NRC process impartial: Assam CM

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday expressed happiness over the publication of the first complete draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and said the government would not allow anyone to disturb the communal harmony and social fabric of the state.

Sonowal's statement came hours after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeeheld a press conference in Kolkata and accused the BJP-led government in Assam of trying to identify and isolate people who don't vote for the party.

"They are turning Indian people into refugees in their own country," said Banerjee, adding that she would send a delegation of her party MPs to Assam soon to take stock of the situation.

"The process for updating NRC is impartial and transparent and it was done under the direct monitoring of the Supreme Court. We have full faith in the Supreme Court", said Sonowal.

"I hope that with the Supreme Court's direction, the NRC would be able to prepare the final flawless NRC that includes names of all genuine Indian citizens," said Sonowal.

"Our government has held a series of discussions with different organizations and it is with everyone's cooperation that the state government has been able to come up with the first complete draft NRC," said Sonowal, adding that the government is committed to maintaining peace and ensuring the legitimate rights of all genuine Indian citizens living in the state.

Sonowal appealed to all citizens not to panic and said that those who did not find their names in the NRC will be given ample opportunity to list their names in the final NRC.

The Assam government on Monday published the first complete draft of the NRC which included the names of 2,89,836,77 people out of the total 3,29,91384 people who have applied for inclusion of their names in the document.

According to the statistics given by the government, 40,07,707 peoples' names were left out of the NRC.

--IANS

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