NRC Correction, Flood Control, Protection of Rights Find Place in BJP’s Poll Manifesto for Assam

BJP national president J P Nadda on Tuesday released the party’s manifesto for Assam assembly polls, promising to protect the political rights of people through a delimitation exercise. The party also made ‘ten commitments’ in the manifesto -one of which is initiation of a process to “correct and reconcile” the entries made as part of the Supreme Court- mandated National Register of Citizens exercise, as it seeks to “protect genuine Indian citizens and exclude all illegal immigrants”.

The manifesto underlined that the BJP, if voted to power, will provide free education to every child, make arrangements to control floods and ensure that the state achieves “self-sufficiency” when it comes to production of essential items. It further gave assurance that payments made to women under ‘Orundoi’ scheme will be increased to Rs 3,000 from the current Rs 830, and eligible residents would be empowered with land rights.

Nadda, after releasing the document, said that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be implemented in Assam when the time is right. Taking a dig at the Congress, he said, “The party had been claiming that it wouldn’t allow implementation of CAA, which is a central legislation. They are either ignorant or trying to fool the people of the state.”

The BJP has also pledged to release a “corrected” version of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) but avoided any reference to the implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act and Clause 6 of the Assam Accord.

Assam was the first State to oppose the CAA as protesters said it violated the spirit of the 1985 Assam Accord that prescribed the midnight of March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for detecting and deporting illegal immigrants.

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