Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday set the deadline for the implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country. Addressing a public rally in West Singhbhum in Jharkhand ahead of the Assembly elections, Amit Shah reiterated the government would expel all the infiltrators before the next Lok Sabha polls, scheduled in 2024.
This was not the first instance of Amit Shah making such statement on the NRC, which validates genuine Indian citizens. Earlier while addressing the Rajya Sabha, Amit Shah said the process would be carried out across the country.
Amit Shah also assured that all citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) list and that NRC is different from the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
"NRC has no such provision which says that certain religions will be excluded from it. All citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the NRC list. The NRC is different from Citizenship Amendment Bill," Amit Shah said in his address to the Rajya Sabha.
He added, "The process of NRC will be carried out across the country. No one, irrespective of religion should be worried, it is just a process to get everyone under the NRC."
Attacking the Central government over its implementation of pan-India NRC, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said both the home minister and the prime minister are themselves "intruders and migrants" in Delhi.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also said PM Modi and Amit Shah are migrants since they have their homes in Gujarat but they are now living in Delhi. "They themselves are migrants," Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said, "Hindustan sab ke liye hai, ye Hindustan kisi ki jageer hai kya? Sabka samaan adhikaar hai. Amit Shah ji, Narendra Modi ji aap khud ghuspetiye hain. Ghar aapka Gujarat agaye Dilli, aap khud migrant hain."
Rough translation: "India is for everyone; is this country anyone's property? Everyone has equal rights in this country. Amit Shah ji, PM Modi ji are themselves intruders. Your houses are in Gujarat but you have come to Delhi, you are migrants."
The Bharatiya Janata Party )BJP) had sought his apology, saying they will not tolerate such an "insult".
The updated final NRC has left out over 19 lakh applicants in Assam. Most of these are people who have not produced required documents to prove their claims and have the option of appealing to Foreigners' Tribunals and subsequently approach the courts.
In Assam, the NRC aims to identify illegal immigrants who entered the state and settled after March 25, 1971.
Source: India Today
BDST: 1455 HRS, DEC 03, 2019
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