Northeast Congress leaders meet Sonia Gandhi over NRC

New Delhi:  Soon after the much awaited final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam was released on Saturday morning, several Congress leaders met party interim President Sonia Gandhi to apprise her about the issue.

The Congress leaders from the Northeast region including former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and party MP Gaurav Gogoi met Sonia Gandhi at her residence here. The meeting between the three leaders lasted for over an hour.

After meeting Sonia Gandhi, Gaurav Gogoi told reporters: "We have apprised Soniaji about the issue and she along with other senior leadership will take a party stand on the NRC issue."

"Every section of Assam is unhappy with the status of NRC. Even BJP Ministers are complaining. Careless implementation will result in many genuine Indian citizens to unnecessarily face the courts. Congress will provide all help. Nation above politics is our motto," Gogoi tweeted later.

After meeting the party Chief, Mukul Sangma said, "As you all know, the NRC is an exercise under the Assam Accord. The stand of our party is very clear that the rights of the real citizen should be safeguarded."

He said: "Now the details of who is a real citizen will be decided only after detailed information is out."

Before Sangma and Gogoi, former Uttarakhand Chief Minister and the party's Assam in-charge Harish Rawat also met Sonia Gandhi at her residence on the NRC issue.

Over 19 lakh people have been excluded from the NRC final list, which has named 3.1 crore people as Indian citizens. The citizens' registry was released online around 10 a.m. Saturday, ending six years of speculation over the exercise that identifies illegal foreigners living in Assam.

The NRC has immense significance for the people of Assam as the state witnessed a six-year-long movement between 1979 and 1985 seeking detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshis.

The NRC updation process was started in the state on the orders of the Supreme Court in 2013. It is being carried out by the Registrar General of India and is being monitored by the apex court.