“The National Register of Citizens (NRC) process in Assam is not a new idea,” Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi said in his speech at the release of journalist Mrinal Talukdar’s Post Colonial Assam (1947 to 2019).
The CJI further said the process was only an attempt to update the 1951 NRC list.
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“Current NRC is an attempt to update the 1951 NRC. Nothing more nothing less,” the CJI reiterated.
Gogoi, who is retiring on November 17, headed the Supreme Court’s special bench the monitored the entire NRC process.
From the final NRC, published on August 31, saw the exclusion of over 19 lakh people out of 3.29 crore applicants.
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“The NRC is not a document of the moment. Nineteen lakh or 40 lakh is not the point. It is a base document for the future,” the CJI added.
“It is such a document that can determine the future claims,” the CJI reiterated.
Speaking on people objecting on the cut-off dates, the CJI said, “Those who are raising objections about cut-off dates are playing with fire. There is no place for fresh wounds or conundrums.”
He further said by updating the NRC, Assam has set an example for the nation to follow.