The twin issues of CAB and NRC kept the first day of the winter session of the Assam Legislative Assembly stormy on Thursday with the opposition parties staging a walkout amid the ruckus.
The Congress and All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) legislators demanded the Speaker Hintendra Nath Goswami to cancel the question hour to discuss on Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and National Register of Citizens.
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The Speaker, however, refused to cancel the question hour following which the Congress and AIUDF legislators staged a walkout shouting slogans and displaying placards.
Reiterating the government’s stand on CAB and NRC, Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma later told media that the CAB is likely to be passed in the Lok Sabha during the ongoing session of the parliament.
He further informed that Assam is also going to be a part of the national NRC, which will be prepared after the CAB.
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He said union home minister Amit Shah is likely to meet the Chief Ministers of the eight northeastern states, opposition leaders and other organizations on November 29 and 30 to discuss the issue of CAB threadbare.
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“A meeting has been scheduled with all stakeholders and invitations have already been sent. All the doubts are likely to be cleared during the meeting,” said Sarma.
“The whole country is going to have an NRC and Assam will be a part of it,” Sarma added.
“The new pan India NRC will be done with one cut off date for the entire country to ensure that those excluded in Assam cannot enrol as citizens in other states and vice versa,” he reiterated.
Slamming the opposition, the minister said that while a few opposition leaders have been opposing the national NRC, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), Assam Public Work (APW) and other organizations have expressed unhappiness over the present NRC and have sought a review.
He also said that the names of a lot of genuine Indian citizens were left out of the NRC.
“The present NRC is 100 per cent incorrect. We are going to table in the assembly how former NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela had done financial irregularities,” said the Minister.