Congress, TMC dub Assam ‘banana republic’ after Aadhaar-NRC link

The opposition on Thursday described Assam as a “banana republic” after the state government ruled that Aadhaar cards can only be given to those who apply for NRC though the latter has no official validity.

Gaurav Gogoi of the Congress, who is deputy leader of the party in the Lok Sabha, and Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Sushmita Dev attacked the BJP government in Assam separately.

Gogoi attacks Assam govt

"The problem of fake beneficiaries is huge in Assam. Government data shows how crores of public funds was wasted in the implementation of PM Kisan," Gogoi said in a post on X.

He said people in the state were paying GST, cess and various other duties. "...but the entire money is being funnelled into the pockets of BJP party members", he alleged.

Also read: Assam makes NRC application must for new Aadhaar applicants

TMC criticism

TMC’s Sushmita Dev, who hails from Assam, said the National Register of Citizens (NRC) had not been notified by the Registrar General of India and wondered how it could be made the basis for Aadhaar.

"Secondly, even non-citizens in India get AADHAR cards if they have stayed 182 days in the 12 months before applying. Lastly, unless the government declares a person an illegal migrant, how can they refuse AADHAR? Assam is a banana republic," she posted.

Assam govt’s justification

The Assam government on Wednesday decided that all applications for the Aadhaar card will be rejected if the applicant or their family have not applied for the NRC.

Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the decision was taken in view of infiltration attempts by citizens of Bangladesh.

Also read: Assam: Is BJP keen on politicising Bangla 'infiltration' rather than fixing it?

The NRC dilemma

The final NRC was released on August 31, 2019 by excluding 19,06,657 people. A total of 3,11,21,004 names were included out of 3,30,27,661 applicants.