New Delhi/ Guwahati/ Kolkata: Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday announced in Parliament that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process will be carried out across the country and added that there would be no discrimination on the basis of religion.
“The process of National Register of Citizens will be carried out across the country. No one irrespective of their religion should be worried. It is just a process to get everyone under the NRC,” he said while replying to a supplementary during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha.
The minister said that in Assam, people whose names have not figured in the draft list have the right to go to the Foreigners Tribunals. “Tribunals will be constituted across Assam. If any person doesn’t have the money to approach tribunals, then the Assam government will bear the cost to hire a lawyer,” he said.
Mr Shah’s countrywide pitch for NRC drew sharp reaction from West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee. “A total of 19 lakh people have been left out of the Assam NRC list. Those omitted include Hindus, Bengalis, Muslims, Gorkhas and Buddhists. They have been sent to detention centres. In West Bengal, we (TMC) will never allow any detention centre,” she said, assuring people that she will never allow such a citizens’ register in the state.
She added the NRC in Assam was part of the Assam Accord signed during the tenure of former PM Rajiv Gandhi and that the exercise can never be implemented across India.
Mr Shah told the Rajya Sabha that though the Centre accepts that refugees — Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis — who left Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan due to religious atrocities should get Indian citizenship, he added that all citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the NRC list. “There is no provision in the NRC that people belonging to other religions will not be included in the register,” he added.
The RSS has been pushing for the nationwide implementation of the exercise.
The RSS’ and the BJP’s top leaders, in fact, held a meeting ahead of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title suit verdict by the apex court and the RSS top brass, it was learnt, told the BJP leadership that the NRC should be implemented nationwide to check illegal immigrants. The NRC issue is often highlighted by the BJP leaders during election campaigning.
The Congress favoured NRC in Assam but said that the ruling BJP has given the entire exercise a “communal tinge”.
