NRC: "Hajela is a failure; Draft might exclude Hindus while including Bangladeshi Muslims": Dilip Paul

Explosive statements made by Silchar MLA and former deputy speaker of Assam, Dilip Kumar Paul. He took a jibe at the state coordinator of National Registrar of Citizens (NRC), Prateek Hajela and said he failed to execute the plan rightly laid down by the apex court and the government of India. Paul accused Hajela of corruption and warned that all will get revealed with time.

Dilip Paul expressed his concerns and said that many Hindus might get left out of the final draft to be published on August 31, 2019. He urged the government to keep an eye on the development and ensure that the future of the Hindus is secured. “Hindus are always welcome in India and one cannot call Hindus illegal immigrants or refugees in this country,” added the BJP lawmaker.

With his own party at the power in both centre and state, MLA’s decision to criticise his own machinery raised many eyebrows. He said NRC failed to live up to its purpose, “The NRC was rolled out to identify the Muslims who entered the country illegally either from Bangladesh or Pakistan and restrict them from exercising the rights reserved for Indians. By doing several forgeries, illegal Muslim immigrants are going to make it to the draft while Hindus stay out of it,” Paul added.

He questioned Hajela’s integrity and shared his disbelief at the fact that in the previous drafts of NRC there were hardly any Muslims excluded. He said that in the bordering districts like Barpeta, Dhubri Karimganj, Hailakandi where the Muslim population is high he expected many of them to not find a spot in the NRC. “What we saw was the complete opposite and almost all of them made it. Here is where I hold Hajela accountable and he needs to answer why this happened,” Paul asserted

With the final draft just a couple of days away people are already very tensed and now the MLA’s explosive statements will certainly add to the worries.