NRC should be extended country-wide: Sonowal

NEW DELHI: Amidst furor and controversy over the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC), which was released on July 31, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal urged the centre to extend the process to other states as well to deport the illegal immigrants from the country.

In a programme held here on Monday, Sonowal said, "Not only Assam, many states and metropolitan cities are suffering from the increasing number of illegal immigrants, which is a threat to the country's security, demography, and economy."

The chief minister further assured the people of the state that his government was fully committed to protect the 'genuine residences of Assam'. He also expressed his gratitude to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who stressed on NRC in both inside and outside the Parliament and released fund for the state of Assam to initiate the process.

At the same time, Sonowal left no chance to attack the Congress and called them 'opportunist'. "The idea of NRC was initiated in 1950 during the Congress regime and then gone to cold-storage, with the fear of vote-bank politics."

Supporting to his statement, BJP general secretary and Northeast in-charge, Ram Madhav, also asserted that "the great-grandson must read the history that during former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Lal Nehru's regime an Act was passed called - Immigration Expulsion from Assam Act in 1951."

The senior BJP leader said, "No country tolerates infiltration, then why would India?" During his address, Madhav also gave the reference of the United States of America and Saudi Arabia.

He also claimed the current process is 'transparent', 'unbiased' and 'scientific'. "This is a threat to Assam's culture, economy, and politics. Even thousands of infiltrators encroached

land in Kaziranga National Park. Therefore, the animals are also not safe! 20 types of software were developed to confirm the documents!."

There are another threefour months to challenge, apply and submit documents related NRC. Both the state government and the government at the centre are working

lawfully, with the supervision of the apex court. The applicants also can plea to foreigner's tribunal and the High Court, BJP claimed.