Explained: Why BJP is unhappy with Assam NRC, and wants Citizenship Bill first

Influential socio-political groups and several political parties in the Northeast are against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and are holding continuous protest demonstrations against it. Their argument is that CAB runs contrary to the NRC.

The final NRC, published on August 31, excluded 19 lakh applicants and they will get a chance to appeal against their exclusion at the state’s Foreigners’ Tribunals.

On Wednesday, Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the current final National Register of Citizens (NRC) of Assam should be rejected and a fresh pan-India NRC should be prepared, with a single cut-off date. His remarks came on a day Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in Parliament about an NRC across the country. At his press conference in Guwahati, Sarma welcomed Shah’s statement, which also mentioned the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.