SC petitioners whose efforts led to NRC list
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Due to vote bank politics, successive governments did not do anything to update NRC AABHIJEET SHARMA , SC petitioner
GUWAHATI: Businessman Aabhijeet Sharma happened to meet elderly couple Pradip Kumar Bhuyan, 83, and Bonti, 76, hours after serial bombings in Guwahati killed 81 people in October 2008. The three cried over the situation in Assam and decided to do something about it.
The bombings were the latest in the series of attacks later attributed to the banned National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) with the influx of immigrants as it main grievance. The grievance had continued to remain unaddressed since the Centre had signed the Assam Accord with the All Assam Students’ Union in 1985 following a six-year agitation against illegal settlers. The accord set the terms of citizenship under which those able to prove that they or their families were in Assam before 1971 would be deemed as citizens.
“That meeting was the genesis of the fight against illegal immigrants,” said 44-year-old Sharma, who heads the NGO, Assam Public Works (APW).
Bhuyan, an Indian Institute of Technology-kharagpur graduate, drafted APW’S petition in July 2009, seeking deletion of “4.1 million illegal migrants included in the 2006 voters’ list”.
“Updating the NRC (National Register of Citizens) of 1951 to weed out illegal immigrants was part of the accord…,’’ said Sharma. “But due to vote bank politics, successive governments did not do anything in this regard.”
He said lawyer Arvind Kumar Sharma was surprised by how well the petition had been drafted when they contacted him Delhi to represent them. “He wanted to know if a lawyer had prepared it.”the SC accepted the petition in July 2009 and directed the Centre in 2013 to start updating the NRC too weed out illegal immigrants. The final NRC draft was released on Monday, excluding 4 million of the 32.9 million people who had applied for inclusion in the draft.
Aabhijeet Sharma became the face of the fight for updating NRC as he kept shuttling between Guwahati and New Delhi for apex court hearings.
The media-shy couple, however, stayed away from the limelight. Bhuyan is an industrialist and academician while Bonti is a trustee of private schools in the region.
“We are lucky that they [the couple] chose APW to take up the cause. They are the reason why the process started. They have spent a lot of money out of their own pocket to continue the legal battle,” said Aabhijeet.
The couple and their children refused to talk despite repeated attempts to get their comments. “They are extremely private people. Bonti ‘borma’ (elder mother) is scolding me for revealing their roles in our fight. I tell her, it is our ‘guru dakshina’ (repayment to teacher/guide) to them,” said Aabhijeet.
He claimed that illegal immigrants had flooded Assam.
“Publication of the complete draft is only a step in the process. We want names of all foreigners removed from the electoral rolls. I want my 13-year-old daughter to live in a safe Assam without fear of foreigners.”
Journalist Mrinal Talukdar, who is writing a book on the National Register of Citizens draft process, said she has seen how the couple contributed their time, money and effort towards finding a solution to the long pending issue.
“They realised the battle could be won only by going to court and not through agitations. People of Assam should realise their contribution.”