Tripura Congress alleges NRC exclusions 'conspiracy' of Centre, Assam government; BJP denies the charge

The Congress in Tripura has alleged that the BJP-led governments at the Centre and in Assam were involved in a "pre-planned conspiracy" to exclude 40 lakh people from the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The ruling BJP in Tripura, however, refuted the charges as "baseless", saying the process of updating the NRC started on the direction of the Supreme Court.

"Genuine citizens with valid documents have been excluded only to drive them out of Assam. It's a pre-planned conspiracy of the Centre and Assam government. Those whose names do not figure in the draft NRC are mostly Bengali Muslims, Bengali Hindus and Manipuris," Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee chief Birajit Sinha said.

Many residents of Tripura have matrimonial links with the people of Assam. They are also in trouble, the Congress leader told reporters in Tripura.

Nearly one lakh people have migrated to Assam from Tripura in search of livelihood. Despite having valid documents, they were left out, he claimed.

Unlike the BJP-led NDA, the Congress wanted to find an amicable solution to the exclusion of people from the NRC list, he added.

Reacting to it, BJP vice-president Pratima Bhowmik said, "It is a baseless charge because the BJP government in Assam had nothing to do with the exclusion of names in the NRC. The entire process of updating the NRC started on the directive of the Supreme Court."

It is only a draft and it would be finalised in December, Bhowmik told PTI.

She said the Assam Accord was signed by then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi on August 14, 1985, and later there was a student movement for driving out people with no valid papers.

In 2005, when the Congress was in power in Assam, it also asserted that illegal migrants should be driven out, the BJP leader alleged.

She said the CPI-M and Congress are now on the same page on the issue and TPCC president Birajit Sinha brought such 'fictitious' charges without knowing facts.

The people of Tripura has nothing to worry about the NRC as there is no proposal to revise the citizens' list in the state, Bhowmik said.