Govt official rebuts rumours of any NRC exercise being carried out in Mizoram

All rumours about an alleged National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise being carried out in Mizoram were debunked after a senior government official from the state clarified that only a village survey was underway. Amidst aroused suspicions regarding NRC, leaders of the village which mainly comprised of Chakma tribals of ruling Mizo National Front had written to PM Modi stating that an NRC exercise was going on in Lunglei district of the northeastern state. Their letter was also supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, National Peoples Party and six NGOs, including the Chakma National Council of India.

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Agency sources reported that the Mizoram government official said that the state had undertaken a survey only to identify unauthorized villages and illegal foreigners, if any, in the district. Lunglei district lies along the Bangladesh border. 

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Memorandum to PM Modi

In their memorandum, the Chakma leaders wrote to PM Modi seeking an intervention to stop the "NRC exercise." Mizoram's Chakma Autonomous District Council Chief Executive Member Rashik Mohan Chakma, BJP MLA Buddha Dhan Chakma, former minister and BJP's national council member Nirupam Chakma also extended their support to the memorandum by being signatories to it. 

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"Illegal NRC being conducted in at least 14 Chakma-inhabited villages under Lunglei district. No such survey is being conducted in any Mizo-inhabited village," claimed a part of the memorandum. 

The memorandum also claimed that the district administration had circulated a form like notice wherein the villagers were asked to fill in their names, places of birth, nationality, and religion, name of the last village they had lived in and the period of stay along with documents like voter identity cards, Aadhaar cards, and educational certificates.

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(With Agency Inputs)