NRC will be carried out across India: Amit Shah in RS

Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday announced that the controversial exercise of National Register of Citizenship (NRC) will be carried out across the country and Assam will see a repeat of this whenever it is conducted while assuring that there will be no discrimination on the basis of religion.

This is the first time that the government has made the categorical announcement on nationwide NRC in Parliament though Shah had on July 17 told Rajya Sabha that they "will identify illegal immigrants and infiltrators living on every inch of the country's soil" when asked whether the government plans to extend the exercise in Assam across the country.

On Wednesday, the issue of NRC once again came in the Question Hour of Rajya Sabha during which Shah said, "the NRC in Assam was undertaken as per the Supreme Court directive. The process of NRC will be carried out across the country. No one irrespective of their religion should be worried. NRC doesn't discriminate with any Indian citizen on the basis of religion. Whenever it is done it is only obvious that it will repeated in Assam too."

His response came to a question from nominated MP Swapan Dasgupta who asked whether the government will make a distinction between illegal migrants and non-citizens.

To a question by Congress MP from Karnataka Syed Nasir Hussain who said there is insecurity among Muslims following Shah's remarks in Kolkata that those belonging Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities need not worry, the Minister said the Citizenship Amendment Bill and NRC are different.

"People from all religions who are Indian citizens will be included. There is no question of any discrimination on the basis of religion. NRC is a different process and the Citizenship Amendment Bill is different," Shah said.

He also said the government accepts that Hindu refugees, Buddhists, Jain, Christians and Sikh and Parsi should get this country's citizenship and this is why the Citizenship Amendment Bill is there. "All refugees coming from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan on account of religious atrocities will get citizenship under the Bill," he said.

The BJP government's plans for a nationwide NRC and renewed bid to pass the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that provides for citizenship for persecuted minorities in Muslim-majority Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have been opposed by several Opposition parties, including Congress that is having strategy sessions to counter the move.

The ruling party had been raking up the issue of nationwide NRC in its election campaigns and Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai too had favoured this exercise in his state.

In its manifesto, the BJP has said, "there has been a huge change in the cultural and linguistic identity of some areas due to illegal immigration, resulting in an adverse impact on local people's livelihood and employment. We will expeditiously complete the National Register of Citizens process in these areas on priority. In future, we will implement the NRC in a phased manner in other parts of the country."