The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday said that the people (infiltrators) excluded from the final list of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam would be disenfranchised and deported to their respective countries.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, however, said that genuine Indians would get adequate opportunities to prove their citizenship and include their names in the final list of the NRC.
Addressing a seminar on ‘NRC: Defending the Borders, Securing the Culture,’ organised by Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini, a BJP think-tank, Sonowal said the Government was working in a very right manner and suggested that the NRC be implemented across India.
Also read: Assam CM wants rolling out of NRC update process in all States
“The NRC will ensure the detection of all illegal immigrants. The next step will be deletion of names of illegal immigrants from voters’ list and deprive them of all Government benefits. And the next stage will be deportation,” said BJP general secretary Ram Madhav.
Ram Madhav said that no country in the world tolerates illegal immigrants but India has become a ‘dharamshala’ for illegal immigrants due to political considerations. “Even Bangladesh has been in active talks with Myanmar to deport lakhs of Rohingya people, who have taken shelter there to escape persecution in Myanmar,” he said.
He said that India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had enacted a state-specific law in the 1950s to expel foreigners, after realising the enormity of the problem of illegal immigrants in Assam. “But previously nothing has happened on this because of the lake of political and vote bank policy,” said Ram Madhav.
“Nehru’s great grandson (Rahul Gandhi) should read the history and extend support to detect and deport illegal immigrants from Assam,” said Ram Madhav.
“The NRC should be implemented in all States. This is a document which can protect all Indians. Those who will be excluded from the NRC in Assam can go to their respective nations. So, we will have to take strong step,” he said at the seminar.
BJP vice-president and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Sahasrabuddhe said that the problem of infiltration created by illegal migrants has been spread across the country. “They are not only settled in the reserve forest of Kaziranga but in the forest and hills on the outskirts of Mumbai where they attacked the police,” added Sahasrabuddhe.
Sahasrabuddhe said the issue of illegal immigrants has a national importance. “We all are with the Assam Government. This issue of illegal immigrants can come up anywhere in India,” he further said.