Assam NRC: Amit Shah asks opposition whether Indians have no rights
01 Aug 2018
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Amidst opposition outcry against the non-inclusion of immigrants from Bangladesh and elsewhere in the updated draft of Assam’s National Register of Citizens released on Monday, BJP president Amit Shah asked the opposition whether they have any concern for the rights if Indian citizens who are getting sidelined in the votebank politics.
Speaking in the Rajya Sabha about Assam’s Nation Register of Citizens, Amit Shah on Tuesday accused opposition parties of “votebank politics” over Assam’s citizenship list, asking them to clear their view on illegal immigrants.
“If you talk about human rights, what about the rights of people of Assam? Their rights of education, jobs were being taken away,” Shah said later at a press conference.
“This step (NRC) has been taken for protecting the rights of the people of India,” Shah said.
“We want Rahul Gandhi (Congress president) to clear his stand on illegal immigrants. When in power, they delay the matter and when in opposition, they oppose it. Vote bank politics should not be above national interest,” he said, following up on his Rajya Sabha speech about the issue.
“Don’t genuine citizens of this country have human rights? NRC is for security of this country. Opposition should clear stand on Bangladeshi infiltrators,” he said, accusing West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also of votebank politics.
Amit Shah termed the National Register of Citizens (NRC) as a filter to keep out “illegal” Bangla migrants — saying “Bharat ke koi bhi nagarik ko chinta karne ki zaroorat nahin hai (No citizen of India has any reason to be concerned).”
Mamata Banerjee has been vociferous in her opposition to the NRC draft and called for Modi government’s ouster. She also spoke of civil war over the NRC list.
Amit Shah gets nod for Kolkata rally amid war of words with Mamata Banerjee.
In a state where history and geography have created multiple identities intertwined over the years, the NRC has cleaved open more than one fault line: cutting across ethnicity, language, religion. On the ground, however, it’s not so simple.
Over 4 million non-citizens — Hindu and Muslim — find themselves among the uncounted. Parents, sisters and brothers, and children have failed to find a place in the draft.
The government, however, says the draft is not final and those who were left out for no fault of theirs will be brought back to the register.
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