Guwahati: A legislator of the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has failed the citizenship test – for now — as also retired Army officer Mohammad Sanaulla, his daughter Shahnaz Akhtar and son Saeed Akhtar. His wife made it to the list. Mr Sanaulla said he had full faith in the judiciary and he would wait for justice.
Mr Ananta Kumar Malo, the AIUDF’s representative from South Abhayapuri in western Assam, said he was surprised not to find his name. “My son is in the exclusion list too. This is very unfortunate," he said.
Another Congress MLA Ilias Ali from Dalgaon got his name included in the NRC but his grand daughters failed the test. The name of Katigora former MLA Ataur Rahman Mazarbhuyan not on the list, along with one of his daughters.
PTI reported that a teacher who was deputed to an NRC Seva Kendra in Guwahati had failed the citizenship test. Refusing to identify herself, she said she had been working in the NSK for the past three years and had presented all documents.
In Silchar Rabindra Debroy, the former publisher of the daily Gati, told PTI he was excluded from the final NRC despite having data of 1955 and 1971. His wife and other family members figure in the list.
Among those let out were Raton Ghosh and his wife Beauty at Uriamguri in Sonitpur district, Samir Poddar, 56, of Dolhat Bazar in Lakhimpur district and three members of his family. Phulendra Das, a daily wage worker, who visited the Morowa NRC Sewa Kendra expressed resentment over exclusion of his name as well as those of his family members, PTI reported.
Ms Lila Rani Dey, 65, a retired nurse of Assam health department from Hailakandi district, was frustrated at her exclusion even after she had provided the citizenship certificate of her father. Her siblings are citizens.
Mr Mijanur Rahman, a 47-year-old farmer, found himself, his 21-year-old son, and two of his daughters, aged 16 and 14, included on the list. However, his wife and his three other children — all under the age of 10 — were excluded.
Ms Dipali Das, 42, found herself, her husband and her four married daughters on the list. But Das was unhappy because her son, 23, Rahul, was excluded. She said she apply for his inclusion.
No end in sight: AASU to move SC
Most stakeholders in the process of updating the National Register of Citizens have expressed displeasure and dissatisfaction at the final outcome.
Assam Public Works (APW) chief Aabhijeet Sharma, who claims to have played key role in persuading the Supreme Court to monitor the process, was first to express his utter dissatisfaction. Alleging that the expensive exercise had failed to address the grievances of the people, he demanded a ‘social audit’ of Rs 1,600 crore spent on updating the NRC.
Mr Sharma said that he was prepared to approach the apex court once again.
“After 40 years, they have given the data of only 19 lakh illegal Bangladeshis. More than half of these people will be able to include their names in the NRC through the Foreigners’ Tribunal. We repeatedly asked not to trust the NRC coordinator,” Mr Sharma said.
Apologising to those who backed his crusade, Mr Sharma said, “It is our fault that we filed the case to identify the illegal Bangladeshis and not to give them Indian citizenship. We had been demanding re-verification since last year. We even submitted five affidavits, but we were called ‘brokers’ of the government authorities.” Mr Sharma slammed the NRC authorities not trusting the state government with the process and tendering the project for data entry to Wipro.
Another major stakeholder, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), expressed displeasure with the final outcome with the NRC.
AASU leader Samujjal Bhattacharya said that for last 40 years, the people of Assam had been fighting for a solution to the vexed problem of illegal immigrants.
“The exclusion figure which is out is not near to the number that is declared by the Central and state governments,” he said while accusing the Centre and the state government of miserable failure. Mr Bhattacharya said they had decided to approach the Supreme Court once again for remedial measures.
In what has come as major surprise, some stakeholders like the All Assam Minority Students Union (AMSU), which had registered a violent protest when a pilot project on updating the NRC was initiated, kept silent on Saturday.
