GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP in Assam joined the protest launched by several Bengali organizations in front of the state assembly here on Monday against National Register of Citizens (NRC) coordinator Prateek Hajela over the dropping of five documents for filing claims and objections of those excluded in the final draft of the citizens' registry.About 14 different Bengali organisations staged a sit-in demonstration in front of the state secretariat at a time when the assembly session was underway, saying that several Indian citizens were going to be left out following Hajela’s suggestion in the Supreme Court to drop five documents for filing claims and objections. Altogether 40.07 Lakh people failed to make it out of 3.29 Crore applicants in the final draft NRC released on July 30.The protestors were later joined by state BJP president and legislator Ranjeet Kumar Dass. He was also accompanied by two other BJP legislators Shiladitya Dev and Ashok Singhal.“We had already informed Union home minister Rajnath Singh about the major problem that is going to come up following the exclusion of five documents for filing claims and objections. The state government also filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court seeking that the five documents should be retained,” Dass addressed the protestors.“We have confidence in the Supreme Court that we will get justice,” Dass added.The five documents currently left out for filing claims and objections included the names in NRC 1951, names in the electoral roll up to March 24, 1971, citizenship certificate and refugee registration certificate, certified copies of pre-1971 electoral roll particularly those issued from Tripura and ration card and ration card.The process of receiving claims and objections will start from September 25.The Supreme Court in its order on Wednesday last, said the process of receiving claims and objection will be “tentatively” for 60 days and claimants would rely on any one of documents 10 documents.Hajela had earlier suggested the apex court that 10 out of 15 documents listed for updating the NRC should be allowed for filing claims and objections. The Supreme Court has “kept open” till NRC coordinator Prateek Hajela offered his views on the five documents. Next hearing is on October 23.BJP, in particular, is unhappy with Hajela’s suggestion to drop five documents saying that many Indian citizens who could not make it to the final draft would not be able to file claims and objections. It said that many Indians belonging to Bengali Hindu, Hindi-speaking, Gorkha and indigenous communities could not get their names included in the draft NRC.

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