Cong to give free legal aid to genuine Indian citizens not

The Congress party will provide free legal aid to genuine Indian citizens whose names are missing from the NRC to be published on August 31, its Assam unit president Ripun Bora said on Monday.

It was the Congress that had begun the NRC process in the state to ensure that all genuine Indian citizens are provided protection and illegal foreigners were detected and did not find a place in the National Register of Citizens, Bora told reporters here.

"The Congress legal cell will provide help free of cost to those genuine Indian citizens whose names are missing from the NRC list to ensure that no injustice is done to them", the Rajya Sabha MP pointed out.

He also welcomed Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal's statement that anybody creating law and order problem in the state would be arrested, but added "he should begin with his own party MLA Shiladitya Dev, who has been making provocative statements related to NRC for long".

"If the Chief Minister is serious about maintaining peace and harmony in the state, he should ensure that the MLA from Hojai is arrested as he been making communal statements continuously and creating fear in the minds of people", the Assam Pradesh Congress Committee chief asserted.

He further alleged that the BJP government at the centre and the state have not been "sincere about protecting the interests of the genuine Indian citizens leading to a fear psychosis in their minds".

He appealed to the people of the state to maintain peace and calm as the Congress will ensure that no genuine citizens of the country were left out of the NRC.

The final NRC will be published on August 31 in Assam, which is the only state in the country where updatation is taking place after 1951.

In July last year, 40,07,707 people were excluded from the complete draft of the NRC, which contained 2,89,83,677 eligible persons out of a total 3,29,91,384 applicants.

An additional 1,02,462 persons were included in the list of excluded persons in June last, taking the total ineligible persons to 41,10,169 in the complete draft.