No resident being driven out of Assam due to draft NRC: Rajnath

The publication of the first draft of National Register of Citizens in Assam figured prominently in the Lok Sabha on January 14, with Trinamool Congress members alleging that the entire exercise was being carried out as part of a "conspiracy" to drive out Bengalis from the state.

The government, however, denied outright such apprehensions and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured the House during Zero Hour that no citizen or resident is being driven out of Assam following the publication of the first draft of National Register of Citizens.

Mr Singh made his brief intervention after Trinamool Congress members Swagat Roy and Kalyan Banerjee alleged that there was a "conspiracy" against Bengalis in the northeastern state which has a history of anti-Bengali agitation in the past.

The Home Minister said allegation that people are being 'driven out' of Assam after the publication of the first draft of NRC on January 1 is "baseless".

"Jinka naam nahi hai unhe pareshan honey ki jarrorat nahi hai (Those who do not find their names need not panic)," Singh said.

"In Assam the NRC related works for citizens are going on under the supervision of the Supreme Court. In the first draft 1.9 crore names have been published," Singh said.

He said there is "no need" to apprehend anything if a person's name does not appear in the first draft. They can always bring it to the notice of the Tribunal and other authorities, the Home Minister said.

Swagat Roy and his party colleague Kalyan Banerjee said how could one believe in the authenticity of the first draft of NRC when even the names of elected MPs and MLAs are not found in it.They were also supported by Congress members Sushmita Dev and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

Earlier as soon as the House assembled to begin day's proceedings, Trinamool MP Swagat Roy said he has given a notice of adjournment motion on the issue as Bengalis were being "driven out" of Assam.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, however, rejected the notice of adjournment.Before the day's proceedings began, the Trinamool Congress members from both Houses of Parliament also staged a demonstration outside Parliament on the issue.

UNI