Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi. (PTI photo)

NEW DELHI: Former Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday claimed a “vast majority” of those excluded from the contentious National Register of Citizens ( NRC ) in Assam were Indian citizens.

Asked how many of the 40 lakh excluded from the draft NRC would make the cut, he said, “It is difficult to say how many people will be included. But I can say with authority that a vast majority of people excluded from the draft are Indian citizens.”

The former Assam CM said the very purpose of the NRC had failed because of its “improper implementation and politicisation” by the BJP-led government. “The intent of NRC was only to identify foreigners once and for all, and it was envisaged to be implemented across the country, not just Assam. But in the eyes of BJP, the only ‘foreigners’ are Muslims,” Gogoi told reporters here.

Pointing to inherent contradictions between the Assam Accord and the Citizenship Amendment Bill, Gogoi also accused BJP of working without a vision, “wilfully confusing” people and playing the “communal card”.

The senior Congress leader said neither the Supreme Court, nor PM Narendra Modi or home minister Rajnath Singh had responded to his affidavit urging them to consider all persons, whose names were in the electoral rolls in 2016, to be regarded as Indian citizens even if they had been excluded from the NRC.

“The very purpose of it failed because of improper implementation by the government. I can tell you the BJP government cannot implement it across the country,” Gogoi said at an interaction with journalists organised by Congress's research department.

Over 40 lakh people in Assam have been excluded from the final draft of the NRC, which was published on July 30.

Acknowledging the Assam NRC as the Congress’s baby, Gogoi said his government had started an NRC pilot in 2010 but suspended it after the exercise triggered massive protests and violence.

Gogoi insisted that with the fate of 40 lakh people hanging in the balance, it was incumbent upon the BJP government to clarify how they wanted to proceed on the subject. “I don’t think the BJP can gain from this,” he said, adding that it would not be possible to repatriate or deport those persons finally identified as foreigners. “Humanitarian considerations also have to be taken into account; for instance, the circumstances under which such persons were compelled to come to India. This has been the Congress’s approach,” he said.

