BJP Working out Blue Print to Safeguard Its Assam’s Hindu Voters
WITH Assam BJP leaders publicly remaining apologetic for the 19 lakh plus residents left out of the revised National Register of Citizens, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Monday called for undertaking NRC in the state and said he will approach the Centre for it on line with the just published NRC for Assam. The state has already approved a resolution on the necessity for such an exercise, he told reporters at Guwahati on the sidelines of the NEDA conclave. “We and many of the states in the north- east need NRC. The Manipur government has taken a decision in the cabinet to have NRC,” Singh said. Meanwhile, The BJP, RSS, which have expressed dissatisfaction over the NRC, are likely to discredit the NRC prepared under the monitoring of the Supreme Court of India and call for re-verification. They may also endeavor to get the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill approved by the two Houses of Parliament. The CAB proposes to grant citizenship to the Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsees and other non-Muslim persons who have had no alternative but to leave Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and have taken shelter in India. Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has said his government would explore legislative options to ensure there was no wrongful inclusion or exclusion. The government has already demanded reverification of the enrolled persons as Indian Citizens before the Supreme Court of India. The apex court had rejected this demand. Hindu Bengalis are considered to be BJP’s core support base in the state. All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) have also expressed unhappiness over the NRC saying it includes countless foreigners.