Assam NRC row: RS adjourned after Amit Shah plays Rajiv card

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the second day on Tuesday over the final draft of Assam's National Register of Citizens (NRC) after BJP President Amit Shah triggered ruckus with a direct charge on the Congress that it was trying to protect the "illegal Bangladeshis" living in the state.

An impromptu debate on over 40 lakh left out in the register made public in Guwahati on Monday suspending the question hour brought the Congress members in the well on Shah claiming the Modi government implemented the Assam accord of 1985 signed by late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi that the Congress did not have courage to identify the illegal migrants in Assam as part of the accord.

He sought to know whether the Congress wanted to protect the “illegal Bangldeshis” in the eastern State.

"Let him come to the House on Wednesday to state who is right, whether the NRC is the bold step of Modi government as claimed by Amit Shah or what is said in the Lok Sabha on Monday that the entire exercise is monitored by the Supreme Court and the government has nothing to do with it," Congress deputy leader Anand Sharma told a Press conference after the adjournment. Condemning Amit Shah's charge of the Bangladeshis (meaning Muslim migrants) left out of the NRC as baseless for the BJP's divisive tactic to draw the line to mislead the people, Sharma said there were Indian citizens from the neighbouring states like Bihar and West Bengal as also from various other states in Assam for work or business and they cannot be made refugees just because they are not Assamese. The NRC was readied as per the directions of the Supreme Court, the latest in December last year, but Shah implied as if the BJP had dictated the Court and it is now for the PM or the Home Minister to clarify, Sharma said. The Congress, the Trinamool Congress and other opposition parties stormed the well after Shah's "Bangladeshi" twist, forcing the Chairman to adjourn for the day. NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday said the Border Security Force (BSF) and Assam Rifles have been sensitised to ensure that members of the Rohingya Muslim minority do not enter the country and states have been asked to enumerate and confine those who have immigrated illegally.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour that his Ministry had issued an advisory to the states in February concerning the Rohingya, reports IANS.

"The BSF and Assam Rifles have been fully sensitised to ensure that Rohingyas are not able to enter," Rajnath Singh replied to a query posed by a Shiv Sena member.

He said Rohingyas have, however, entered the country in "large numbers".

"It should not happen that the Rohingyas spread out and stay wherever they want," he said, adding that the states have been advised to prepare their "biography" (profiles) and take biometrics.

"The advisory also says that their movement should also be monitored and the states should be fully alert," the Minister added.

Rajnath Singh said the state governments have the right to deportation under the Foreigners Act.