The BJP in Assam has slammed the National Register of Citizens (NRC) authority for rejecting a plea for reverification of names in the draft list published on July 30 last.
The Central and State governments, both headed by the BJP, had requested the Supreme Court for reverification of 20% of names in districts bordering Bangladesh and 10% in other districts. But NRC State Coordinator Prateek Hajela, on July 23, told the Supreme Court that this was unnecessary as officials handling the NRC exercise had already reverified 27% of the names.
“We disapprove of Hajela having done, as he claims, 27% reverification on his own without any instruction from the apex court that is monitoring the exercise. The Centre and State had sought reverification to ensure not a single genuine Indian is excluded from or any illegal immigrant included in the list. We feel Hajela is being directed by some vested interests,” a statement issued by the State BJP late Wednesday evening said.
 
Sachetan Nagarik Mancha, an Assam-based civil society group that had submitted a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind last year alleging that the draft NRC was erroneous and contained the names of Bangladeshi people, said the government did not push hard enough for reverification.
Other organisations such as the All Assam Students’ Union and the All Assam Minority Students’ Union had welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision against reverification while extending the deadline for publishing the final NRC from July 31 to August 31.