Tardy execution, says Rahul

NEW DELHI: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday criticised the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) governments at the Centre and in Assam over the “tardy” execution of the “critical and highly sensitive” exercise of drafting the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

“The NRC was initiated by the (Congress-led) UPA (United Progressive Alliance government) under Manmohan Singh Ji to fulfil the commitment made in the Assam accord of 1985,’’ he wrote in his first Facebook post. He was referring to the pact under which it was agreed to identify illegal immigrants, who had entered Assam after Bangladesh’s creation in 1971.

“However, the manner in which this exercise has been undertaken by the BJP governments at the Centre and in the state of Assam leaves much to be desired,” wrote Gandhi. He cited reports “pouring in from all corners of Assam of Indian citizens finding their names missing in the draft NRC’’ and said it has created “massive insecurity”.

“Clearly, after spending close to ₹1,200 crore, the execution of this critical and highly sensitive exercise has been tardy. The government must move swiftly to resolve this crisis.”

Gandhi appealed to his party members to “help all those against whom an injustice has been done in the draft NRC, no matter what their religion, caste, gender, linguistic group or political affiliation”.

Earlier, the Congress demanded an all-party meeting over the issue. It asked the government to inform the Opposition of the steps it proposed to ensure that no Indian citizen is left out. Congress spokesman Anand Sharma insisted till all matters related to the NRC are settled, people and families should not be separated. He claimed Union home minister Rajnath Singh had admitted in Lok Sabha to shortcomings in the process of preparing the NRC.