Assam: Mahanta welcomes NRC list, takes on BJP's Himanta for raising objections

Former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta on Saturday welcomed the publication of National Register of Citizens (NRC), while taking a jibe at Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for raising objections to the list.

"If this NRC is not proper as some ministers said, then they will be responsible for it. The whole government machinery was involved in preparing the list as per the Supreme Court's direction," said Mahanta told media persons here.

Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma earlier today raised objections to the NRC, calling it erroneous.

Mahanta, who was a prominent face in protests demanding the deportation of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, said the successive governments failed to fulfill the assurance given during Assam movement to update the 1951 NRC list.

The leader also paid tributes to the activists who lost their lives during All Assam Students Union agitation against illegal immigrants in the state.

"We lost 855 people during the Assam agitation. We pay our tributes to them," he said.

The NRC was published on Saturday, according to which as many as 19 lakh people have been left out of the updated register.

The register, which was first published in Assam in 1951, is being updated on the top court's orders to segregate Indian citizens living in the state from the people who illegally entered India from Bangladesh.