Do Congress, SP, BSP want illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to stay in India, asks Amit Shah

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah on Sunday attacked opposition parties – Congress, Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) – over drat National Register of Citizens, released by Assam government last week.

At a public event in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP president asked the Congress, the SP and the BSP to clarify on whether they want illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to stay in India or want them to be evicted.

Asserting that the move of the Assam government was in compliance with the Supreme Court order, Shah said, “Complying with Supreme Court orders we brought NRC. The NRC is a way to evict illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from Assam.”

“I would like to ask SP, BSP and Congress to clear their stand on whether they want illegal Bangladeshi immigrants to stay here or evict them,” said the BJP president.

This comes a day after the Congress Working Committee blamed the government for using Assam NRC for gaining political mileage. While the CWC conceded that the concept of NRC was introduced by the Congress party, it said that it should be done in accordance with the Assam Accord, signed during the tenure of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has said that no coercive action must be initiated by authorities against those not included in the list. Pointing that it is a draft NRC, the top court said that it does not form basis of any action by the authorities.

The apex court has said that authorities will have to follow the legal process on the issue and give due opportunity to the residents whose names are left out of the NRC.

It further asked the central government to lay down the standard operating procedure on NRC and submit the same before the court for approval. The state coordinator of the NRC told the court that 37.59 lakh names have been rejected while 2.48 lakh names have been put on hold.