New Delhi:
The Modi government has withdrawn 10,000 paramilitary personnel deployed in Assam after publishing the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) list online on Saturday. Officials said the decision was taken as there has been no violence in Assam ever since the NRC list was published. Among the 100 companies of the paramilitary forces deployed, 50 belong to the BSF, 10 CRPF, 16 ITBP and 24 SSB. A company of a paramilitary force comprises around 100 personnel.
A Home Ministry official said, “the decision was taken on August 19 to deploy 218 companies of paramilitary forces in Assam for maintenance of law and order situation ahead of the publication of the final NRC.”
"As peace continues to prevail in Assam, a review has been carried out by the Ministry of Home Affairs on Friday on the situation in the state. After the review, a decision has been taken to withdraw 100 companies of paramilitary forces with immediate effect,” the official said.
In the complete draft of the NRC, which was published in July last year, names of 40,07,707 people were excluded. It contained names of 2,89,83,677 eligible persons out of a total 3,29,91,384 applicants. Names of additional 1,02,462 persons were included in the list of excluded persons in June this year taking the total ineligible persons to 41,10,169 in the complete draft.
Though there has been some buzz over such an exercise across the country, at present, Assam is the only state that is carrying out the NRC policy. The citizens’ register was last updated in 1951. Assam had faced influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th Century.
Meanwhile, even as various stakeholders debate over the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which was released by the Home Ministry on August 31st, Himanta Biswa Sarma has reportedly said that the BJP-led Assam government is set to move the Supreme Court for review of the key procedures of the entire exercise.
