Assam NRC Results on 30 June: 50,000 would be stateless

Guwahati : It’s been three years now that people in Assam are going through NRC procedures. And just common men but the politicians of the state bear mental tension regarding National Register of Citizens (NCR). Sources confirmed that Assam’s 14 MPs including the All India United Democratic Front chief Badruddin Ajmal and his brother Sirajuddin Ajmal did not find their names in the first draft of the updated NRC published on December 31 last year.

Also first draft missed out 19 million names of people along with 15 of Assam’s 126 MLAs. They included Badruddin Ajmal’s son Abdur Rahim Ajmal, who represents the AIUDF, supposed to be a pro-minority party, from the Jamunamukh constituency.

The missing list too includes Boby Bhuyan Baruah, wife of separatist Paresh Baruah, who has been operating from neighbouring countries, including China, for three decades now, and their sons Ankur and Akash. Mr. Baruah leads the United National Front of Asom-Independent.

The MPs and MLAs, including the BJP’s Shiladitya Dev and Ashwini Rai Sarkar and relatives of extremist leaders are also waiting early for the final draft NRC to be published on June 30 under the supervision of the Supreme Court. “The first list did not have my name despite my being an MLA for one term and an MP for two. The doors of the SC are open in case the name does not show up,” the AIUDF chief said a few days ago.

Though leaders are not worried, but people like Moinal Islam, a mason from near Chhaygaon, west of Guwahati, who is unable to explain why his father adds ‘Sheikh’ to his name while he doesn’t, and Subhas Saha of western Assam’s Dhubri town, half of whose family were excluded from the first draft despite having lived there for almost a century, are worried by speculation that up to four million people, mostly Bengali Hindus and Muslims would become stateless after June 30.

“These are misplaced fears. We cannot quantify at this moment, but the number of people who might get left out would be 50,000 at most. Even then, they will get an opportunity to prove their citizenship through claims and objections,” Prateek Hajela, State NRC Coordinator, told The Hindu.