The Opposition Congress on Friday reiterated its commitment to offer legal aid to those Indians who do not figure in the updated National Register of Citizens (NRC), to be published on Saturday.

Assam PCC vice-president and Lok Sabha MP Pradyut Bordoloi said here, “Genuine Indian citizens need not panic if their names do not figure in the updated NRC. The Congress will provide all legal help to these people. Many genuine Indian citizens may not be able to find their names in the updated documents because of some technical snags in the update process and negligence.”

The Assam government, All Assam Students Union, BJP, All Assam Minorities Students’ Union and the All India United Democratic Front have also offered legal help to genuine Indians who may get excluded.

Bordoloi said, “The Congress always wanted an error-free document with inclusion of indigenous people and exclusion of all suspected foreigners. We don’t want to blame the NRC authority if any genuine Indians are left out. There are many reasons behind exclusion and it can be fixed later. All lawyers and advocates of the party practising in different places will help file appeals in the foreigners tribunals for the exclusion at the district and block level.”

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal said no one should worry if their name does not appear in the list because they would get ample opportunity to appeal in the foreigners tribunals.

The Union home ministry, in a statement last week, had said it would amend the rules to increase the time limit of filing appeals in the foreigners tribunals from 60 to 120 days.

Bordoloi appealed to the people of the state to maintain peace and harmony during the time of publication of the final list.

The 1951 NRC is being updated in Assam to prepare a register of Indian citizens under the supervision of the Supreme Court which has set August 31 as the deadline for the publication of the final NRC. It is being updated under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and has left out more than 41 lakh people out of the 3.29 crore applicants.

The NRC update is a result of the six-year-long Assam Agitation in the 1980s to drive out illegal foreigners from Assam after the indigenous people felt an identity crisis following largescale infiltration from neighbouring Bangladesh.

The final NRC will have the names of the individuals who have been living here since before March 24, 1971 or those whose ancestors resided before this cut-off date.