Former BJP MLA Shiladitya Dev has renewed his criticism of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC), alleging serious discrepancies in the state’s voter list and claiming that foreign nationals were wrongly recognised as Indian citizens.
Speaking to reporters in Guwahati, Dev said, “The voter list in Assam is not correct. We have converted 80 lakh Bangladeshi Muslims or East Pakistani Muslims into Indian citizens. The NRC failed to detect them.”
He said the final NRC, published in August 2019 under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court, did not reflect ground realities. “If names like Saifur Rehman Talukdar’s can appear on the list, it raises serious doubts about the integrity of the entire process,” he said. “The NRC in Assam is full of mistakes.”
The 2019 document, which excluded around 19 lakh people from more than 3.3 crore applicants, was meant to be the definitive register identifying genuine Indian citizens living in Assam. Instead, it has remained frozen and unnotified for over five years after both the State Government and the Centre expressed dissatisfaction with its accuracy. The Registrar General of India has not yet accepted the list, leaving nearly two million excluded people in legal limbo while the state’s citizenship records remain unresolved.
Also read: Mamata slams Assam for NRC notice to Bengal farmer
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has repeatedly described the NRC as “faulty” and has demanded a re-verification of at least 20 per cent of names in border districts and 10 per cent elsewhere, an exercise the Supreme Court has not yet approved. Multiple petitions seeking limited or fresh verification remain pending, while the updated NRC has neither been operationalised nor used for administrative purposes.
Dev argued that the experience in Assam should guide future policy. “We need a fresh NRC across India, with strict verification and transparent methodology,” he said, adding that the state’s exercise must serve as a cautionary example for any nationwide initiative.
He also criticised the Congress leadership in the state. “The Congress president here does not understand politics, this is mere child’s play,” he remarked.
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