No political pressure can manipulate my focus on NRC: Prateek Hajela

Guwahati, Aug 7: Prateek Hajela, Coordinator of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, has reiterated that no amount of political pressure can manipulate his focus on this historical document.

According to agency reports Hajela said that he does not recognise any amount of political pressure from any quarter.

He said he remained firm and committed in discharging his ‘constitutional duty’ under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court and did not recognise any pressure from any other authority. “I performed my duty focusing on the NRC like Arjuna focused his vision on the eye of the fish in the Mahabharata”, he said.

“I am doing a constitutional duty and I am doing it under the order of the Supreme Court. When I am firm that I am doing a constitutional duty, no amount of interference from any other authority makes any impact on me,” he added.

“There may have been an affidavit filed by the government, but I was working under Supreme Court orders. For me, I do not recognise any amount of pressure from any quarter,” he said.

The IAS also dismissed the reported pressure on him by the current BJP-led Assam government as “speculation”.

“That’s all speculation. I do not recognise any such pressure. I am focused. When I am doing a constitutional duty, that’s the only thing that I recognise,” he restated.

However, Hajela informed that he had consulted all the parties and applied all the criticism positively for the improvement of the system.

“I have been in touch with all the stakeholders, which include all the political organisations. I have been interacting with them and taking their feedback, and ensuring that the incorrect apprehensions are removed,” he added.

The NRC officials viewed the criticism “as a point of view to improve our system, purify it rather”, Hajela said, adding, “That is how we are going about it.”