Aftermath of Assam NRC – Muslim leaders urge members to ensure proper ID proof for all families

In the aftermath of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) created in Assam that led to names of over 40 lakh people being left out of the first draft, some leaders of the Muslim community have appealed to the people to ensure they have proper documentation for all family members. One of the measures suggested at a press conference held by leaders of the community was to use the pulpit during Friday prayers to ask community members to ensure that they have their documents updated in case there is an Assam-like situation in the future.
Maulana Syed Moinuddin Ashraf, also known as Moin Miya “” one of the main speakers at the press conference “” told The Indian Express: “The main issue is to raise awareness among people regarding identity documentation. People need to keep their documents, like voter ID, Aadhaar, passport and domicile certificate safe. In order to raise awareness, we told the over 50 ulemas (religious scholars) present to ensure that they should mention the importance of having such documents in place even during the khutba (sermon) during the Friday prayers.” “The issue at hand does not impact a particular community. Rather it goes against people who are uneducated and come from the lower strata of the society, who would normally not be much aware about the documents that they should have to prove their citizenship,” he added.
Maulana Amanullah Raza Shaikh, who leads prayers at a mosque in Byculla, said, “I will be making an announcement to raise awareness among people during the sermon. We are also trying to spread this message through WhatsApp and phone calls. This is a message for everyone as on several occasions, the name of one family member is missing or someone’s name is spelt wrong in their identification papers. They should realise the importance of having proper documentation.”
Saeed Noorie, general secretary of Raza Academy, who was also present at the press conference, said: “We will also write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the home minister, asking them to look out for people who are misusing the NRC and making it a communal issue. The Supreme Court is monitoring the issue and we have full faith in it.”
(Extracted from indianexpress.com)