Govt will implement NRC countrywide, says Amit Shah

Union home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday (September 18) said that the government will roll out a countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC). “Can an Indian go and live illegally in US, UK, Russia? No, then how can other nationals reside in India without legal documentation? That’s why I believe NRC should be implemented all over the country,” he said.

The Union home minister said this at an event organised by HT media group’s event in Ranchi. Shah reiterated the need for the NRC to detect illegal aliens in the country.

Also read: Setback to NRC in Assam no bar for BJP seeking exercise elsewhere

Assam is the only state in India to have the NRC after the exercise was concluded in August 31. Shah underlined that it was not the Assam Register of Citizens. “We will extend NRC to the rest of the country and create a national register of citizens. There should be a list of all citizens of the country. It is NRC and not Assam Register of Citizens,” the minister said.

Recently, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday (September 15) said that NRC will be updated in the state, as done in Assam. “We will implement NRC in Haryana,” Khattar said after meeting justice (retd) HS Bhalla and former Navy chief Admiral (retd) Sunil Lanba at their residences as part of BJP’s Maha Sampark Abhiyan” ahead of October-schedule assembly polls.