Call it a lull before the storm or dark clouds hovering above that might not rain at all.
The state of affairs in Cachar district in Assam looks similar, when the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is slated to be published on Saturday.
Post the declaration of first and second drafts of NRC list published on December 31, 2017 and July 30, 2018, respectively, Cachar district alone,along with its other two districts of Barak valley, found, 2,28,000 names missing from the four lakh names not listed from this region.
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Interestingly though, out of this 2,28,000 names of Cachar district having seven Assembly constituencies, Silchar finds 1,15,000 names not in both these drafts of NRC list published till date.
Add to that, an additional draft exclusion list published on June 26 this year, has struck off an additional 5000 names in the whole process in Cachar district, to add to its woes.
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As anxious moment builds up, Northeast Now spoke to some heads of various non- governmental organizations (NGOs).
These NGOs have vehemently opposed or spoke about the whole NRC verification process that has been going on for more than three years now.
Also read: NRC in Assam: CM urges all to maintain peace and tranquility
Kamal Chakraborty, chief convenor of Unconditional Citizenship Demand Forum (UCDF) talking to this correspondent said, “We are pretty much sure that lakhs of people would be left out from this list and declared as a foreigner.”
“They have to fight it out in a Foreigners Tribunal and I am sure would lose the battle out there,” he added.
A similar sentiment was echoed by Basudeb Sharma, president of All Bengali Hindu Association of Assam (AABHA), who, talking to Northeast Now, said, “Many names of Hindu Bengalis would be left out.”
“We are camping in Guwahati and have met the chief minister, on Thursday, wherein, we have urged him to safeguard the rights of Hindu Bengalis.”
“We have requested him to accept December 31, 2014, as the cut-off date for providing citizenships to the persecuted Hindu Bengalis who have come from Bangladesh,” said, Basudeb Sharma.
Meanwhile, Northeast Now also spoke to DSP (HQ), A J Baruah, who informed, on behalf of Cachar superintendent of police Mughdajyoti Dev Mahanta, that an additional 16 companies of para military forces have reached Silchar and has been spread across 160 NRC Seva Kendras (NSKs) in Cachar district to keep things under control.
A J Baruah added, “I would appeal to one and all to maintain peace and harmony.”
“If they find that their names are not there, the State Government would extend all possible help for their names to be cleared from the Foreigners Tribunal, if they are a genuine Indian citizen,” Baruah added.
