No infiltrator will be allowed to live in India, says Amit Shah in Assam

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Guwahati: Underlining the government's commitment towards ensuring the safety and security of the country, Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that no infiltrator would be allowed to stay anywhere in India.

Addressing the issue of National Register of Citizens (NRC), Shah said that all concerns are being addressed. "."In all states, especially in Assam, people have expressed concern for NRC, both different queries. They think that many people have been left out of NRC. Smaller states have concerns that those left out in NRC could come to their states. I want to assure that no infiltrator can live in Assam and they cannot enter other states because we want to make the whole country free of infiltrators, not just Assam," he said at a meeting of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).

Assam had released the final NRC list on September 1 and a total of 3,11,21,004 persons are found eligible for inclusion. A little over 19 lakh people had been left out. The Home Ministry had already said that adequate judicial processes are open for those not in the final list to make their appeals.

Shah, on Monday, took the opportunity to once again underline the priority that Centre gives to the north-eastern states. He also took a dig at Congress, a party that is almost non-existant in the region now. "Every citizen here is an integral part of the country and has full rights. Every state is an integral part of India. If this message was to be sent to the people of the north-east, it was necessary to rid the states here of Congress," he said.

Shah also heaped praise on NEDA. "The idea behind NEDA was to integrate all languages and people of the north-east and increase contact between them. We created NEDA to bind the rich cultures here. North-east is not a coalition of eight states, it is a geo cultural entity," he said.