CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on July 18

THE union government and the Assam state government have petitioned the Supreme Court for a sample re-verification of the names included in the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam which was published on July 30, 2018. For this, they want the court to extend the deadline for the final publication of the NRC list from July 31 to a future date.

As per the request made, the central and state governments want a 20 per cent sample re-verification of the names included in the districts bordering Bangladesh and a 10 per cent sample re-verification in the other districts.

The CPI(M) is opposed to this further round of verification. It will only lead to more harassment and continuation of the ordeal for lakhs of citizens who have already spent a large amount of time and resources appearing for repeated hearings and submission of papers.

This sudden demand on the eve of the July 31 deadline appears motivated by the agenda of the BJP which seeks to identify citizenship on the basis of religious affiliation.

The issues connected with the NRC list are different – will there be a speedy legal process to render justice to those wrongly excluded? What is going to happen to the millions who are excluded from the NRC and what will be their status? And so on.

The Supreme Court which initiated and supervised the NRC process should take responsibility to respond to these issues. At stake are fundamental issues regarding Indian citizenship and the basic rights of citizens.