Guwahati, January 9, 2020: The leader of the opposition and the Congress legislature party in Assam, Debabrata Saikia has dared BJP strongman and minister of state for finance and health,  Himanta Biswa Sharma to disclose the name of any person from the Congress fold who is a Bangladeshi national or of Bangladeshi origin. The statement of Debabrata Saikia comes hours after Himanta Biswa Sharma alleged that 90% of the Congress legislators in Assam are Bangladeshi! Himanta Biswa Sharma had made the allegations yesterday (January 8) while attending a BJP rally at Dhemaji in upper Assam. He is reported to have said, “Ninety % of the Congress legislature party in Assam is Bangladeshi. They may be citizens, but their forefathers came from Bangladesh. They are of Bangladesh origin. “

Taking strongest note of the false and fabricated statement of Sharma, Saikia added, “thesame people who have created a hue and cry around the existence of Bangladeshis in Assam, are today propagating that Congress has 90% ‘Bangladeshi’ MLAs in the state. Like “Ashathama hoto” he has also tried to salvage his own falsehood by explaining that “may be they are citizens but their forefathers have come from Bangladesh”. This is nothing short of a move to extricate himself from facing legal action. But, I have gone through his statement seriously. I have found that his statement is not only false and fabricated, but it is illegal in the eyes of the law. There are enough points to haul him up legally. We will not spare him for constantly resorting to such propaganda,” said Debabrata Saikia talking to SabrangIndia.

“There is no legislator from the Congress, who has any sort of relation with Bangladesh. Bangladesh was formed on March 25, 1971. Not even a single MLA nor their forefathers have come to Assam after the formation of Bangladesh. There maybe some Congress MLAs with forefathers from erstwhile East-Bengal who came to Assam from undivided India before 1947. They have migrated from one province to another within the same country which was then undivided India. No one can insult them or humiliate calling them “foreigners” nor by tagging them to a country which was born 50 or 100 years after their migration. I challenge Himanta Biswa Sharma to name and prove that any MLA from the Congress who is Bangladeshi or Bangladeshi origin.” Debabrata Saikia further said, “if Himanta Biswa Sharma fails to disclose any name of a Congress MLA who is either a Bangladeshi or Bangladesh origin, he owes an apology to the people of Assam. Or else, all Congress legislators will knock the door of judiciary to take legal action against these derogatory remarks of Himanta Biswa Sharma. ” 

Just two days ago, Himanta Biswa Sharma had even claimed that the AIUDF MLA, Ananta Kumar Mallo, belonging to the Badaruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF has come to Assam from Bangladesh after 1971”. On this, Debabrata Saikia said, “if Ananta Kumar Mallo has come to Assam after 1971, the speaker of Assam legislative Assembly must inquire and take necessary action in this regard.”

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The post Disclose name of Bangladeshi legislator from Cong or face legal action: Saikia, Assam appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Guwahati, July 27, 2019: The latest order from the Supreme Court on the vexatious NRC issue, passed on July 23, 2019 has evoked a strong reaction from the ruling party at both the state and centre, especially because it refused their request (made on affidavit) for the re-verification of 20% of the NRC documents collected during the Claims and Corrections process from the border districts of Assam and a similar 10% re-verification in the state’s other districts.

The Order may be read here.

Likewise the main applicant in the case, Assam Public Works also reacted sharply on the issue as the Supreme Court denied their request for a further re-verification of 100% of the NRC documents from the names of those who made it to the final draft NRC. The ground for the SC’s refusal to grant this prayer was because 27% of re- verification has already been completed so far.

Though the ruling party and the private petitioner, Assam Public Works, have expressed public displeasure at the Supreme Court’s latest order, all other democratic organisations and individuals, including those belonging to religious and linguistic minorities, have come out strongly in favour of the order. According to them, the demand for re-verification is nothing but an attempt to dilute the entire NRC process by the present government and to harass the genuine Indian citizens under the garb of repeated hearings.

Nevertheless, some crucial issues that are reflected in the order of Supreme Court of July 23, will have serious implications in the near future.

The Supreme Court order quoted paragraphs 7, 7a, 7b, 7c and 8 of the affidavit submitted by Pratik Hajela, the state co-ordinator for the NRC on which he seeks the opinion of the highest court.

The paras that cited by Pratik Hajela came out in the public domain as the office of the NRC was compelled to issue a public notice on the issue, following the directions of the Court.

The public notice may be read here.

Through this pubic notice it appears Prateek Hajela, the state co-ordinator for NRC, is not only seeking the opinion of the Supreme Court on certain issues but has also made clear his own stance and opinion.

It may be worthy of mention here that the entire process under which the NRC is being completed is under the legal framework laid down under the Citizenship Act, 1955, the Citizenship Amendment Rules, 2003 and the Modalities prepared in the process for updating NRC.

However, as paragraphs 7 and 8 reveal, Hajela’s affidavit and subsequent public notice reveal, both militate against both the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship Rule, 2003.

Advocate Mrinmoy Dutta of Gauhati High Court states, “Clause 7 (a) of the affidavit is contrary to Citizenship Act. The clause 7(c) will create a humanitarian crisis in the State of Assam as it will specifically affect minor children.”

With regards to paragraph 8 of the affidavit advocate Mrinmoy Dutta is of the opinion that “all people cleared by IM(DT) must be included in updated NRC. However, they may require to clear themselves in the NRC process also.”  
 
The basic issue – – as revealed in the most recent public notice by the Co-ordinator – –  is that the entire process of updating NRC has been derailed.

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