Union Home Minister Amit Shah today said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday that all illegal immigrants and infiltrators will be hounded out from every inch of the country, and deported.
He said this in the context of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is currently being implemented in Assam. “Currently the NRC is part of the Assam Accord. However, we will find out illegal immigrants and infiltrators from every inch of the country and deport them in accordance with international laws,” Shah said. This is part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) election manifesto, Shah said, implying that it is one of the reasons for which the party had been voted to power and formed the government.
The NRC is being implemented in Assam and the Centre is mulling pushing the July 31 deadline in order to “maintain fairness” of procedure. Nearly 41 lakh people have been excluded from the final draft of the NRC, and 36 lakh have claimed objections. In its election manifesto, the BJP has said it would implement NRC in a phased manner in other parts of the country.
A number of Opposition political parties are opposed to the implementation of the NRC – the Trinamool Congress perhaps being the most vocal about it. Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has opposed it many times – especially in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls when she said in her public meetings that her government would not allow the BJP to implement NRC in West Bengal.
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