Congress in damage control mode, says not against Assam NRC

Congress party wants the NRC to be implemented according to the Assam Accord.

(Reporting by Kartikeya Sharma)

NEW DELHI: Amid a political storm over the findings of the National Register of Citizens survey concerning Assam, the Congress party on Thursday said that it is not against conducting such surveys if they are implemented as per the Assam Accord.

Speaking exclusively to WION, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad said, ''Congress is not against the National Register of Citizens. We are not against the NRC but it should be implemented as per the Assam Accord signed during former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure.” 

The senior Congress leader also said that no Indian should be harassed in the process of identification and people should be given adequate opportunity to prove that they are the citizens of India. 

The Congress veteran further demanded that the government should also provide legal assistance to people there.

On being asked as to how his party views the whole issue, Azad said, ''We see this as an humanitarian issue.'' 

Azad also accused the BJP of communalising it and warned that his party will not let anyone politicise the NRC issue.

Azad's statement is in sharp contrast to the party's known stand on the issue. While the party wants political parties to stay away from the issue, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) is all scheduled to discuss the Assam NRC during its upcoming meeting. 

Even after BJP chief Amit Shah's blistering attack on Congress over the NRC issue, the party has not been able to formalise its position on the same.

Several leaders of the party appear to have different views on the subject, which, in all probability, will be ironed out during the next CWC meeting. 

Ghulam Nabi Azad also accused BJP of taking different positions on NRC. 

“On one hand, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said that it is a court-monitored task and government has nothing to do with it, on the other hand, BJP president Amit Shah is taking the credit for NRC in Rajya Sabha,” Azad said.

Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has already taken a tough stand on the Assam NRC issue as it suits its politics in West Bengal and North East. 

Congress, which appears to be in a damage control mode, will have to fine-tune its strategy on the issue as its soft positioning may create an electoral backlash in rest of the country. 

BJP, on the other hand, has made it into an issue of national security and its senior faces are already talking about conducting Assam NRC-like surveys in other states. 

Like triple talaq, the NRC has the potential to consolidate 'Hindu' vote as it can boil down to the political narrative of appeasement politics.