Assam to make public information on Hindu Bengalis out of NRC

GUWAHATI: Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said the BJP-led state government would table district-wise figures of Hindu Bengalis excluded from the final NRC during the ongoing winter session of the assembly.


More than 19 lakh applicants were excluded from the final NRC, published on August 31. BJP claims many of these people are Bengali Hindus who fled Bangladesh in the early 1970s, but the refugee certificates issued to them in Assam weren't accepted as proof of citizenship during the NRC exercise.


"We now have a district-wise break-up of the number of Bengali Hindus excluded from the NRC. These details have to be made public at some point of time," he said. "We have decided to do so during the current assembly session. We didn't have this data earlier because the NRC was still being updated." Sarma said the details might be placed in the assembly either on December 4 or 5.

Opposition parties, including the minority-dominated AIUDF and Congress, staged a walkout from the assembly over the government's decision to reject the final NRC.

Former NRC coordinator Hajela had submitted to the Supreme Court in a sealed envelope the district-wise break-up of people excluded from the rolls. The SC had ordered all NRC reports should be "confidential" because of their "sensitive nature".