Sitting MLA, Kargil veteran left out of NRC
Kargil war veteran and retired army officer Mohammad Sanaullah, who spent a few days in detention in May after being declared a foreigner by a tribunal, was excluded from the updated list.
A Kargil veteran, a sitting and an ex-MLA of the AIDUF were among those whose names were excluded from the final NRC, which was released here on Saturday. The daughter of Congress MLA Ilias Ali too found her name missing though the legislator and his other family members made it to the updated list.
Kargil war veteran and retired army officer Mohammad Sanaullah, who spent a few days in detention in May after being declared a foreigner by a tribunal, was excluded from the updated list.
Sanaullah's two daughters and a son were reportedly not included, though his wife's name appeared in the list, which validates bona fide Indian citizens in Assam. AIUDF MLA Ananta Kumar Malo, representing Abhayapuri South assembly constituency in Bongaigaon district, said he could not find his name in the final NRC.
"My son's name also is not in the NRC final list," the legislator claimed. Malo's party colleague Ataur Rahman Mazarbhuyan is another prominent exclusion."The Constitution defines who is a citizen of India and I have all the necessary documents to prove it. I have been a two-time MLA from Katigora. This is harassment and the NRC is flawed," Mazarbhuyan said.
The former MLA said he would take the legal option and go to the Foreigners Tribunal to get his name included in the NRC. The updated final NRC has excluded over 19 lakh applicants who are now staring at an uncertain future.
A total of 3,30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 have been included in the document and 19,06,657 excluded, a statement from the NRC State Coordinators office said here. In a twist of fate, a school teacher who was deputed in an NRC Seva Kendra (NSK) in the city, failed the citizenship test.
Declining to identify herself, the woman said she has been working in the NSK for the past three years and had presented all necessary documents - her father's legacy data, her education qualification certificates as well as the service documents of her father, who works with Indian Oil Corporation, to prove her citizenship.
In Silchar, Rabindra Debroy, former publisher of the daily Gati, said he was excluded from the final NRC despite having legacy data of 1955 and 1971. "The names of my wife and other family members were included," the 74-year-old said. At Uriamguri in Sonitpur district, Sabdul Islam and three members of his family did not make it to the list as also Raton Ghosh and his wife Beauty.
The list of exclusions included 56-year old Samir Poddar of Dolhat Bazar in Lakhimpur district and three members of his family as well as the family members of Arati Bala Baishya of Morowa village in Nalbari district.
Phulendra Das, who visited the Morowa NRC Sewa Kendra expressed resentment over the exclusion of his name as well as those of his family members. Das said they were called for hearing to Mukalmua where they produced all their documents but their names were not included in the final NRC.
"I am a daily wage labourer. How can my poor family fight the legal battle to get our names in the NRC," he asked. 65-year-old Lila Rani Dey, a retired nurse of Assam health department who hails from Hailakandi district, is frustrated at the exclusion of her name even after she had provided the citizenship certificate of her father.
Names of her brothers and sisters were, however, included in the document. Usha Devi Todi, a widow living with her son at Dhubri town, too found herself out of the list. "I am a poor widow and therefore it is not possible for me to continue the legal fight to include my name", she said in despair.