GUWAHATI, Nov 20: In a massive declaration that will have wider ramifications, Union Home Minister Amit Shah today announced that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be updated afresh and that it will be part of a nationwide exercise. Shah’s announcement comes amid the controversy surrounding the update of the citizens’ register that was carried out in Assam. The updated NRC, published on Aug 31 this year, had been the subject of a blazing row amid allegations of illegal migrants entering Assam after the cut-off date of March 25, 1971 getting their names in the updated register of Indian citizens while names of many indigenous people were left out.
“The process of National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be carried out across the country. No one, irrespective of religion should be worried. It is just a process to get everyone under the NRC,” Amit Shah said in Rajya Sabha.
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Meanwhile, Amit Shah’s announcement has been welcomed by the Assam Government. Assam Finance, Health and PWD Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while welcoming the decision to update the NRC again, asked the government to declare the earlier exercise null and void while to update the citizens’ register keeping the same cut-off year for the entire country.
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The names of more than 19 lakh applicants were left out of the NRC published on Aug 31, 2019.
