Home Minister of India Amit Shah on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the Government will identify illegal immigrants staying in any part of the country and deport them as per international law.
“It is a very good question. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is part of the Assam Accord and was also in (BJP’s) election manifesto based on which the government has come to power. The government will identify illegal immigrants living on every inch of the country’s soil and will deport them as per the international law,” Shah said while responding to a query by a Samajwadi Party (SP) member Javed Ali Khan on whether NRC will be implemented in other states.
Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, said that the Centre has received many representations for extending the NRC deadline in the state. He added that a petition signed by about 25 lakh applicants submitted to the Centre and the President demanded an extension to correct anomalies.
Shah, during the election campaign had accused the Trinamool Congress of “misleading” people on the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and had said that Hindu, Buddhist and Sikh refugees in the state ‘need not be afraid’ because the Bill has been brought to grant them citizenship.
Recently, BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that if the Citizen (Amendment) Bill 2016 is not passed, it will be a surrender to the ‘philosophy of Jinnah.
Sarma also added that the purpose of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was to “detect Jinnahs”.
In the north-eastern state of Assam, India has published a list which strips four million people of their citizenship. It says the process is to root out hordes of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
The list, named as the National Register of Citizens (NRC), is a list of people who can prove they came to the state by 24 March 1971, when Bangladesh was created.
The list has sparked fears of targeted hunting towards ethnic minorities in Assam. However, officials have said that no one will face immediate deportation and that the option of an appeal will be available to all.
