Hidden agenda behind NRC

This refers to the report 'BJP set to zip through CAB test (Dec 11). This way of conducting an NRC will probably ensure that large numbers of people fail to prove their citizenship – not because they are "illegal immigrants" but because huge numbers of Indians do not possess documentary proof of their citizenship.

That is a fact of life in this country, and anyone who would claim that an NRC conducted in this manner will only exclude undocumented immigrants is being deliberately mendacious. In short, the overall impact of the NRC, during the period of its implementation, will greatly exceed the enormous disruption caused by demonetisation, which – for all the devastation it caused – was a single event rather than a prolonged exercise.

The havoc wreaked on the economy by demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax has been a direct result of the way both measures targeted the unorganised sector and small producers. The NRC will do the same at a far bigger level, over years.

But what happens when the NRC is 'completed'? Perhaps the single biggest indicator of how fraudulent this exercise is the fact that till date, the very same government that has been proclaiming that it will "expel every infiltrator" has not held a single discussion with the Bangladesh government about taking these people in.

On the contrary, the government has been loudly assuring the Bangladesh government that the NRC is an "internal matter" and that it has nothing to do with Bangladesh. This clearly shows the hidden agenda behind NRC!

-Dr Ravinder Reddy Akula, Hyderabad