The Assam National Register of Citizens left out more than 19 lakh people facing uncertainty
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury today mocked BJP chief ministers calling for the implementation of the National Register of Citizens in their states, asking why not carry out the exercise in the whole world.
"Why not carry out NRC in the whole world? Even we need to know how many 'infiltrators' are there in the country," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. Borrowing from Home Minister Amit Shah's description of infiltrators, Mr Chowdury also called them "termites".
The Congress leader pointed out the huge discontent within the BJP over the final NRC, and said that the government first needs to make its stand clear. "The government does not have any guidelines on where the people will be sent," Mr Chowdhury said.
"When union ministers go to Bangladesh, they say that we won't send them there. So where will we send them? The government should clarify their stand," said the leader of Congress in Lok Sabha.
His remarks were in response to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who a day earlier suggested that the NRC could be implemented in UP, if needed, in phases. "I feel that when Uttar Pradesh will need an NRC, we will do so," Mr Adityanath told The Indian Express in an interview.
Another BJP Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar had, on the same day, said that Haryana too will prepare a citizens' list to check illegal immigration.
The Assam list, published on August 31, left out more than 19 lakh people facing uncertainty. These people now have to approach a foreign tribunal within 120 days of the date of publication to prove their citizenship. Those failing to do so will be sent to detention camps, the first of which is being constructed in Assam's Goalpara, about 150 km from Guwahati.