The final list of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC) was released on Saturday, 31 August. The list left 19,06,657 people out of the citizens’ register, with about 3.11 crore labelled as eligible.
Renu Begum, an Assamese citizen said that she was satisfied with the result and it is good news for her family. She said that earlier, all her family members featured on the list with just her mother’s name being left out. “We attended many hearings and now her name is finally on the list,” she told The Quint.
“I am very happy.”Renu Begum, Citizen, Assam
Govt to Offer Legal Assistance to the Excluded
Those who have been excluded from the National Register of Citizens have 120 days to appeal at Foreigners Tribunals. If not satisfied with the verdict of the tribunals, they will have an option to move the High Court and the Supreme Court for redress.
Hundreds of people began thronging these offices soon after the list was released, with some returning home happily while others were disappointed.
Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convener of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the NDA’s version in the northeast, deplored that many people who came to India as refugees before 1971 were not included in the final citizenship rolls.
Sarma demanded that the Supreme Court allows reverification of at least 20 percent of samples included in the list in districts bordering Bangladesh and 10 percent in rest of Assam.
Saidul Ahmed, another resident who came to see the status of his aunt, since it showed as ‘rejected’ online said, “We have land papers from 1932, so we are hopeful.”
Upon being asked if it feels bad, despite having papers from 1932, he said that we are the old, original people of the land. “If we are not Indians, who is?,” he asked.
The NRC exercise aims to identify the foreigners living illegally in Assam, with a cut-off date of 24 March 1971. A few representatives from the Assamese Civil Society, however, said that the number of those excluded is very low.
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