Anti-influx activist and Supreme Court lawyer Upamanyu Hazarika on Wednesday criticised BJP leaders, including Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, for allegedly changing their stand on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) ahead of the publication of its final copy.

“As the publication date of the final NRC is nearing, Sonowal and other leaders of the ruling party have started blaming all and sundry, particularly NRC Assam state co-ordinator Prateek Hajela, for what is evidently going to be an flaw-riddled NRC, which will include a large number of foreigners,” Hazarika said.

The authorities engaged in updating the NRC are preparing to publish the final list on Saturday, according to the direction of the Supreme Court, which has been monitoring the update exercise.

On August 26, 2018, the Prabajan Virodhi Manch, a forum working against infiltration, of which Hazarika is the convener, had submitted a 173-page representation to the Registrar General of India and the state government, pointing out alleged discrepancies in NRC update, including alleged inclusion of a large number of “foreigners”.

Hazarika said the government and the leaders of the ruling party were now trying to shift the blame, which “squarely rests upon them”.

“Since the beginning of the NRC process, the BJP has been in power at the Centre and the state. All along, whenever discrepancies in the NRC process came to light, be it officers/personnel caught on video seeking bribe, foreigners being deployed in the NRC process or daily reports in the media of subversion of the NRC process, the government and the leaders were only too happy to turn a blind eye,” he alleged.

“All this while, their (the government and BJP leaders) singular obsession was to include Hindu Bangladeshis in the NRC by granting them citizenship. They weren’t even bothered with the largescale inclusion of foreigners in the draft NRC,” he further alleged.

Hazarika pointed out how Sonowal had earlier described publication of the draft NRC as a historic event, saying that it would be an important milestone for the protection of the indigenous people.

He said Sonowal, state BJP president Ranjeet Kumar Dass and other leaders were now crying foul over the inclusion of large number of foreigners in the NRC, saying that remedial measures for exclusion of “foreigners” from the NRC would be taken by means of a new legislation.

“This is a clear admission of failure on their part of doing nothing when required. The state government’s officers and personnel were deployed in the NRC update process and when such personnel were caught red-handed trying to subvert the NRC process, the government did nothing, did not draw up any proceedings against such officers,” he alleged.

Hazarika said the only alternative at this juncture is to ensure that resources like land, employment and trade licences are reserved for the indigenous people as in other northeastern states, as this is the only means left now to protect the identity of the indigenous people in Assam.