Speaker Gogoi interacts with scribes

Assam Assembly Speaker Pranab Kumar Gogoi today interacted with the scribes at Guwahati Press Club on 29 April 2015. Attending the Guest of the Month programme of the press club the veteran Congress leader reiterated his stand that the NRC updating process in Assam should be based on the 1951 NRC.

Replying to the queries of participating journalists, Speaker Gogoi informed  that the 1951 NRC documents are still intact except the two districts of Sivasagar and Dima Hasao, and some villages of the Barak Valley. 

“I don’t say things I don’t mean. When I said the 1951 NRC is available, I did so only after getting the facts right from the State home department. The relevant documents in other parts of Assam are very much intact. There should be no disputes, as raised in some quarters, over the 1951 NRC,” said Speaker Gogoi.

The veteran Congress leader, however, was not sure if harsh laws can rid the State of millions of illegal migrants from Bangladesh. No country in the world has been able to do so. He advocated disenfranchising them, if not deported, and utilize them as human resources.

Voicing his support to the proposed land-swap deal with Bangladesh, he said he thought it would remove the frustrating hurdles to border fencing, which in turn could prevent further migration.

Speaker Gogoi finally expressed hope that his initiative for an amicable resolution paving way for constitutional safeguards to the indigenous population of Assam would bear fruits. He went on speaking that more and more constituencies in Assam, if not each and every one, would be reserved for the indigenous people in future.