The Northeast Linguistic & Ethnic Coordination Committee (NELECC) has constituted a five-member advocates’ body to file a PIL in Supreme Court against its decision of upholding the status quo of the SOP submitted as an affidavit by State NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela.
The committee has been headed by advocate Santanu Naik as its convener.
This was informed on Thursday by the members of NELECC after briefing the media at their party headquarters in Silchar on Thursday evening.
The NELECC committee would file a PIL by September 25 this month.
Speaking on the issue, advocate Santanu Naik talking to Northeast Now said, “On September 19, when a date for a hearing on NRC was scheduled in Supreme Court, we were hopeful of getting a positive result, but we were discouraged at the Apex Court’s decision.”
Naik said, “Both the State Government as well as the Centre filed affidavits in the Supreme Court for the 5 deleted documents among the 15 that were put up on September 7, 2015 to be included. If this whole process of NRC is an update of the 1951 NRC, then why documents submitted of that era are not being accepted?”
He further claimed, “The names of 40 lakh people which are missing have been kept at bay deliberately in order to prove that this NRC process could identify 40 lakh illegal foreigners and Bangladeshis, and nothing else.”
Naik said they would demand that all the 5 delisted documents be included for verification.
“Claims forms should be submitted only after the next date of hearing in the Supreme Court, that is, October 23, said,” said Santanu Naik
They would also pressurise for declaring the current NRC update process as null and void and demand for a fresh listing, informed Kirit Bhushan Purkayastha, former Cachar district BJP president.
Speaking to this correspondent, Purkayastha said, “The last resort is the court. If people don’t get justice from there, then the only way out is to go for a massive strike.”
Kankan Narayan Sikdar, general secretary of NELECC, placing a charter of demands before the media, informed, “The path ahead for those whose names have not come in the final draft of NRC is very gloomy. We are going to file a PIL for which documents have been arranged along with evidence. All the five documents need to be incorporated back.”
Stating that more protests are on the anvil in the days to come, Kankan Narayan Sikdar said, “We are holding a mass convention on September 27 at 2 pm next at Silchar’s Gandhi Bhavan, to fix the next course of protest and action, talking to various intellectuals and organizations of this Barak Valley.”