On Sunday, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that seven lakh Muslims are among the 19 lakh persons left out of the National Register of Citizens for the state.
Five lakh Bengali Hindus, two lakh Assamese Hindu groups Koch-Rajbongshi, Das, Kalita, Sarma (Assamese), and 1.5 lakh Gorkhas were excluded from the register. Sarma said during an interview with News Live.
The NRC is a register that is meant to identify and deport “illegal” immigrants. Assam published a National Register of Citizens on August 31, 2019. Residents had to prove that they or their ancestors had entered Assam before midnight on March 24, 1971, in order for them to be included in the list.
Over 19 lakh persons, or 5.77% of the applicants, were left out of the final list. The breakup provided by CM amounts to 15.5 lakh. It was unclear who are the remaining 3.5 lakh persons.
Sarma said that three lakh to six lakh of those excluded from NRC could apply for citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act, the rules for which were notified on March 11.
The Citizenship Amendment Act aims to fast-track Indian citizenship for refugees from six minority religious communities, except Muslims, from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the condition that they have lived in India for six years and have entered the country by December 31, 2014.
Combined, the CAA and NRC could allow the government to expel all of those deemed “illegal” migrants – and then allow Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians to re-enter, while denying the same opportunity to Muslims.
The BJP has declared its intent to implement the NRC nationwide.
