CJI says NRC a 'base document' for future, was urgently needed; slams 'arm chair commentators'

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi on Sunday strongly defended the current exercise of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, saying it would be a base document for future and was urgently needed as prior to it there was "guesswork" on the number of illegal immigrants in the state that had fuelled fear and a vicious cycle of violence.

Justice Gogoi, who is heading an apex court bench which is monitoring the process of NRC in Assam, was also critical of "arm chair commentators" who, he said, are not only far away from the ground reality but also present a highly distorted picture due to which the state and its development agenda have taken a hit.

The CJI, who hails from Assam, said that NRC is neither a "new or a novel idea" as it found expression as early as in 1951 and the current exercise is an attempt to update the 1951 NRC.

"The NRC is not without contestations. Let me take this occasion to clarify. The NRC is not a new nor a novel idea. It founds expression as early