Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has suggested three ways in order to fix the loopholes of the final National Register of Citizens (NRC) list which came out on Saturday last.
As per reports, Sarma’s first strategy is that before the final NRC list is approved by the Supreme Court, the All Assam Students Union (AASU), the Assam Public Works (APW) and the state government should come together and discuss the anomalies in the NRC.
The anomalies should then be recorded and then taken to the Supreme Court asking for a re-verification of the NRC, Sarma added.
Sarma claimed that if a same set of anomalies are found by the apex court in the NRC, then there is a hope that the court will order a re-verification.
His second strategy to solve the NRC mess is that Assam should be included in the exercise for a national register.
Sarma said that Amit Shah had said that after the Citizenship Act is amended in the context of West Bengal there will be a national register of citizens.
He also said that the state government will request the Centre to include Assam in the national register as well although the decision for implementation of that exercise has not yet been taken.
Sarma’s third solution for error-free NRC is that the state border police should be re-activated as they have the power of referring suspected foreigners to a foreigner’s tribunal.
A total of 3,11,21,004 persons have been found eligible for inclusion in the final NRC list.
However, 19,06,657 persons including those who did not submit claims have failed to make it to the final NRC list.