Former Assam NRC coordinator urges Amit Shah to withhold Census 2026 results until NRC re-verification

Former NRC co-ordinator Hitesh Dev Sarma has written to Union Home minister Amit Shah stating that the Government has already notified for the Census to be undertaken across the country from August 2026 however Census must be conducted among the bonafide Indian citizens only. In the case of Assam, where there exist 20 to 25% foreign nationals, this Census may result in distorted and misleading outcomes.

Sarma who was former co-ordinator of National Register of Citizens (NRC) has written to Union Home minister Amit Shah and stated, “ I have the honour to inform you that I am a retired government servant from Assam and my last government assignment was as the State Coordinator of National Register of Citizens (NRC) for Assam. Serving as the State Coordinator, I got the opportunity to understand the unusual demographic transition taking place in Assam, where the percentage of Muslim population had risen to nearly 40% from 24.68% in 1951”.

He added, “As the Home Minister of India, you know that this unusual growth of Muslim population is not due to the high rate of birth only, but the unabated influx from Bangladesh in the last few decades. Assam NRC is being updated under the supervision of Supreme Court of India and the supplementary list was published in August, 2019 from where over 19 lakhs of names were left out”.


He informed, “As the then State Coordinator, I found that the NRC’s supplementary list was full of errors, where lakhs of ineligible names were included but many names of indigenous people were left out. I had already informed the Government as the State Coordinator about this and submitted one petition before the Supreme Court seeking re-verification of the Assam NRC elaborating all the mistakes that took place during the updating process”.

He continued, “While only 19 lakhs names were left out in the supplementary list of NRC, I guess it should have been three to four times more. In this connection, I want to refer to the reply given by the Home Ministry to a question put by Datta Meghe in Rajya Sabha on 14th July 2004, where it was said that there were estimated 50 lakhs of Bangladeshi nationals taking shelter in Assam in 2000. By a simple projection, it can easily be said that now the figure might have grown to 70 to 80 lakhs. Subsequent to my retirement, I submitted a writ petition before the Hon’ble Supreme Court seeking a complete re-verification of NRC. My petition (WP(C) 740/2025) has already been admitted by the apex court for hearing.”

He said, “While requesting you to take necessary actions on the above matter in the interest of national security and sovereignty, I want to draw your kind attention to another related matter. The Government has already notified for the Census to be undertaken across the country from August 2026. While welcoming the decision, I want to put forward my argument that a Census is conducted among the bonafide Indian citizens only.In the case of Assam, where there exist 20 to 25% foreign nationals, this Census may result in distorted and misleading outcomes. As the mother language of illegal Bangladeshi foreigners is Bengali and they follow Islam, the statistics of Census will heavily tilt towards Bengali and Islam population in Assam. Thus, it would paint a wrong picture about the state demography due to the presence of a large number of illegal foreigners. This is against national security, and it may lead to socio-political unrest in the region. Anti-national elements, both internal and external, will use these statistics against the country’s interest”.

Sarma said, “I would like to request you to assess the situation and take necessary decisions to withhold the result of Census for Assam until all the foreign nationals are detected through the NRC re-verification and subsequently their records are deleted from the Census. This is in the interest of national security and sovereignty, as well as for safeguarding the Assamese community”.

The updation process of the NRC in Assam is caught in a logjam years after the publication of the supplementary list on August 31, 2019. Rejection slips are yet to be issued to those excluded – who can move the Foreigners Tribunal (FT) to challenge the decision – and RGI has not yet notified the NRC.