Leaders of various ethnic organisations of Assam have expressed strong resentment at the statement of former Vice-Chancellor of Assam University and Bengali intellectual Tapodhir Bhattacharya against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) update process.
In his article written in Bengali, titled ‘Asome Bangalir Sarashajya’, published in Aajkaal on July 3, 2018, Bhattacharya stated: “NRC is a conspiracy against the Bengalis.”
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Bhattacharya also mentioned in the article that the administration has been doing conspiracy to establish the supremacy of Assamese across the State.
Reacting to Bhattacharya’s statement, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) leader Akhil Gogoi said, “There is a force active in the State which does not want publication of an error-free NRC, though the NRC update process is going under the supervision of the Supreme Court. Tapodhir Bhattacharya belongs to that force.”
Gogoi also said, “Bhattacharya is in favour of illegal migrants against whom most of the political parties and organisations representing various ethnic groups have staged protests across the State.”
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The farmer leader further said, “Bhattacharya has followed the same path of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which have been trying to create unrest between the Bengalis and other communities in the State.”
Gogoi alleged, “The piece of writting article by Tapodhir Bhattacharya is a planned conspiracy of the Government as the BJP-led Government at the Centre and State has been trying to bring in illegal Hindu-Bangladeshis by implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.”
Meanwhile, All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharyya said, “If anybody has any objection regarding the NRC, he or she may move the Supreme Court of India. The NRC is not against the Bengalis or Mulims, it is against the illegal migrants.”
Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad general secretary Palash Sangmai said, “A section of Bengali intellectuals and a few organisations have been trying to mislead the whole NRC update process. The BJP and RSS have also been doing the same thing for which persons like Bhattacharya voiced against the NRC.”