Indian Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday that the government would identify illegal immigrants staying in any part of the country and deport them as per international law. He said this in the Rajya Sabha while replying to a supplementary question put by Samajwadi Party lawmaker Javed Ali Khan on whether the National Register of Citizens or NRC will be implemented in other states as well.
Currently, the NRC in Assam is being updated under the supervision of the Supreme Court and July 31 has been set as a deadline for final publication of the registered data. "It is a very good question. The NRC is part of the Assam Accord (of 1985) and was also in (BJP's) election manifesto based on which the government has come to power. The government will identify illegal immigrants living on every inch of the country's soil and will deport them as per the international law," Shah said in the Upper House.
Recalling that the federal government has received many representations for extending the final NRC publication deadline in Assam, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said a petition signed by about 25 lakh applicants submitted to the government and the President demanded extension to correct anomalies.
Since many genuine names have been left out and many bogus names are registered, “the government has been requested to extend the time for this purpose", he added. "There will be some delay but the NRC will be implemented properly without any faults," Rai said, asserting that the government's intention is to ensure no genuine citizen is left out of the NRC.
The government's intention is to ensure no illegal immigrant is registered under the NRC. Foreigner tribunals have also been set up to curb illegal stay of foreigners in India, he added.
