Convention was organised by the WPI to give a correct picture of NRC and to diffuse the rumours and fears about it.
Our Special Correspondent / New Delhi
Speakers at a ‘National convention on NRC – Myth & Catastrophe’ on Saturday warned union government against using NRC as a political tool and to polarise people. They termed it as a big threat to secularism and constitutional ethos of India. Speakers include scholars, academicians, lawyers religious leaders among others.
National President of Welfare Party of India, Dr SQR Ilyas said that the BJP government was using NRC as a tool to polarise people and create fear. He said these tactics would destroy the delicate social fabric of the country.
Dr Ilyas further added that the National Registration of Citizenship conducted recently in Assam state to maintain a register for Identification of Indian citizens under the supervision of Supreme Court was a mammoth exercise involving crores of rupees and it was shoddy, complex and contentious, yet it refuted the claim that there was a huge influx of Bangladeshis in Assam.
While 3,11,21,004 crore people made it to the final list of NRC, 19,06,657 lakh were left out and were asked to appeal within 120 days in the Foreigner’s Tribunal and if rejected here were further asked to appeal at the high and supreme courts and this entire procedure is cumbersome and taxing on the poor.
Noted lawyer Prashant Bhushan spoke on the legal framework of NRC and the disparities found in the present system. He said the onus of establishing the citizenship should be with the state and not with the individual. He pointed at the evil designs of the BJP party who wants to deny voting rights and citizens’ rights to Muslims. He said NRC is a serious issue and we need to see it in totality and needs to be challenged at every stage.
Mr Engineer Salim of JIH said BJP was using NRC to divert attention from real issues and keep the population under constant fear. He said it is the duty of the citizens to disallow the government to trend on the communal lines.
Mr Sanjay Hegde said the idea of India is under threat. We have in our constitution the freedom of movement. NRC is a local issue of Assam and we should not allow it to spill into other parts of the country. We have to leave a good documented India as a legacy for our future generation.
Maulana Arshad Madni of JuH said Indian Muslims are part and parcel of India, there are Takur, Brahmin, Gujjar etc amongst Muslims too as their forefathers accepted Islam and now after all these years they have deprived citizenship just because of their religion is shameful.
He said Islam had given women a share in inheritance and this legal document is necessary for her to establish her relationship and hence it should be taken seriously.
He criticised the Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement and said those in responsible positions should refrain from giving irresponsible statements and give unconstitutional statement after taking oath on the very constitution.
Mr Hafiz Rashid Chowdary from Assam said there is great concern over the future of the people who are left stateless, whose deportation is neither feasible nor a desirable option and explained how myth was spun by the political parties in Assam and the discrepancies found in the NRC list only explains that the political parties want to keep NRC still alive.
Aziz Ur Rahman said there is Apprehension that NRC, if done in other states, will also be shoddy using huge sum of money and leaving many genuine citizens stateless in the detention centres. He said the introduction of Citizenship Amendment Bill is anti-constitutional and anti-Muslims and it will make NRC more discriminatory and communal.
Prof Apoorvanand said BJP party wants to make NRC a Muslim issue and politically gain from it. Indians are taking part in governance in England and Ireland and in India, one section of the citizens are being robbed of citizenship after living here for centuries and this is shameful.
Muslims should assert their citizenship rights. Sincere dialogue between Hindus and Muslims should take place to remove suspicious reasons why partitions to place still process; we need to take up a place to remove suspicion. The reason partition took place still persists we need to take up confidence-building measures.
Activist and journalist Dr John Dayal termed it as Islamophobia and accused BJP government of dividing the society.
The national convention was organised by the Welfare Party of India to give correct information and to diffuse the rumours and fears about NRC and to build a strong national consensus on it.