New Delhi:
Poll strategist and JD(U) vice president Prashant Kishor on Sunday termed Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) as 'botched up' which has left 'lakhs of people as foreigners in their own country.'
A botched up NRC leaves lakhs of people as foreigners in their own country!
— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) September 1, 2019
Such is the price people pay when political posturing & rhetoric is misunderstood as solution for complex issues related to national security without paying attention to strategic & systemic challenges.
Kishor further added that the exercise was misunderstood as a solution for a 'complex issue related to national security. Prashant took to Twitter and wrote, "A botched up NRC leaves lakhs of people as foreigners in their own country! Such is the price people pay when political posturing and rhetoric is misunderstood as a solution for complex issues related to national security without paying attention to strategic and systemic challenges."
Kishor's words are in line with that of his party which has opposed the exclusion of over 19 lakh people from the NRC in Assam, most of them are Muslims.
The MEA, on the other hand, released a statement on Sunday where it said that the people left off the NRC are not “stateless” and will continue to enjoy all the rights as before till they exhaust all the remedies available under the law.
It said exclusion from the NRC has no implication on the rights of an individual resident in Assam and that they will not be deprived of any rights or entitlements which they have enjoyed before.
The MEA’s comments came in the wake of commentaries in sections of the foreign media about certain aspects of the final NRC which it said are “incorrect”.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) has been prepared to identify Indian citizens living in Assam since March 24, 1971 or before. Out of 3.3 crore applicants, over 19 lakh people were excluded from the final NRC published on Saturday.
“Exclusion from the NRC has no implication on the rights of an individual resident in Assam.
“For those who are not in the final list will not be detained and will continue to enjoy all the rights as before till they have exhausted all the remedies available under the law,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
“It does not make the excluded person ‘Stateless’. It also does not make him or her a ‘foreigner’, within the legal meaning of the term. They will not be deprived of any rights or entitlements which they have enjoyed before,” he added.
