No coercive action will be taken against anyone; attempts to create fear among people is condemnable: Rajnath Singh on NRC

New Delhi, August 3: Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Rajya Sabha today spoke that no coercive action will be taken against people whose name is not there in the final draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC), in any situation.

 

Condemning the “attempts to create fear among people”, the home minister said, “I am saying this again, that no coercive action will be taken against anyone in any situation. Attempts to create an atmosphere of fear are condemnable.”

“I would like to repeat that it’s a draft and not final. Everyone will get a chance to appeal. It’s a totally fair process, and unwarranted accusations are unfortunate,” he said.

Minister Singh also added, “The procedure of NRC started in 1985 through the Assam accord, when late Rajiv Gandhiji was the prime minister. The decision to update it was taken by Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2005.”

While releasing this draft, it has been noted that around 40 lakh people in Assam have been left out of a draft list of citizens who will have to face deportation if they cannot prove their citizenship.

Releasing the updated NRC draft list, officials underlined that no one would be deported or arrested as this is only a draft. Thousands of central forces are in the state to prevent any unrest over the new list.

 

The draft inks the name of around 3.29 crore people who had applied for their names to be included. Out of that only 2.89 crore have made it to the revised citizen's list. The rest face the prospect of being declared illegal and sent out unless they can satisfy the doubts of the authorities or unable to prove their identity of citizenship of the state. It has been noted that if the name of the citizen is not included in the list, the citizen can appeal for claims and objections citing the draft.