Dr Rajdeep Roy, Assam BJP spokesperson, demands Prateek Hajela's resignation. Photo: Aparna Laskar

Assam BJP spokesperson, Dr Rajdeep Roy on Tuesday slammed state coordinator of NRC in Assam Prateek Hajela and said he should take moral responsibility for his failures and resign from his post.

Sharpening his swords, Dr Rajdeep Roy didn’t mince any words to say that the goof up within the NRC draft preparation has taken place under Hajela’s supervision and he is now taking shelter of the Supreme Court for his failures.

Speaking to Northeast Now, he said, “If 55,000 state government employees, spending close to Rs 1500 Cr produced an NRC draft that has lots of anomalies then why did Prateek Hajela allow it to pass those documents in the first place, Dr Rajdeep Roy questioned.

If the NRC draft has been done so badly for which huge amount of money from the public’s exchequer has been spent to make a bonafide list of citizens, let it be done once again if there is a need for it, he said.

Speaking on the differences that has crept in with statements from various senior leaders especially their national president, Amit Shah, who in his every meeting in various states of India, lately, mentions about driving out Bangladeshis if voted to power in 2019, Dr Rajdeep Roy said, “We have mentioned in our national executive resolutions or at the regional level resolutions that we are for minorities persecuted by our neighbours. We would protect them. Now, only way out is the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016, and if we fail to do so, BJP’s traditional vote bank would get caught in a spell of uncertainty.”

Dr Roy added, a large section of Hindu minorities or this class of people are at the mercy of the Supreme Court or the legal entanglements attached with it.

Pointing his views not mentioning the names of any national level leaders, Dr Rajdeep Roy, said, “When one leader says Hindus all over the world are free to come to India and settle and the other who tries to appease the majority keeping in mind the general elections of 2019 has left many other leaders and workers of the party, both at the state and at the national level, concerned.

Come what may, the Citizenship Amendment Bill needs to be passed before the declaration of the final list of NRC, Dr Roy said.