New Delhi: The National Register of Citizens (NRC) implemented in Assam will help strengthen India’s national security, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minster Yogi Adityanath has said, calling for the exercise to be conducted in other states as well.
In an exclusive interview to News18 Network Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, Adityanath said infiltrators from Bangladesh need to be weeded out. "Not only Uttar Pradesh, but India was struggling with internal security issues. In the previous years, infiltrators entered India and exploited our resources. They are a threat to national security. Most of these infiltrators are from Bangladesh," he said.
Adityanath assured that his party will implement the NRC in other states following the Assam model. "Bangladeshis, Pakistanis and from other places as well… We will take action against them," he added.
The UP chief minister's comments come after Haryana on September 16 expressed its commitment to conduct the citizenship exercise. "The state government is working on a fast pace on family identity card and its data would also be used in the National Register of Citizens (NRC)," chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said.
The final NRC in Assam was published on August 31, 2019. It excluded 19 lakh persons; all declared as non-citizens of India. They will now have to appeal to the 400 Foreigners Tribunals in the state to re-claim their citizenship.
However, post the publication of the final NRC, Assam BJP has turned around on its position for the citizenship exercise with senior leader and the party’s main man in the northeast Himanta Biswa Sarma rejecting the list. Sarma has also demanded that the Supreme Court allow re-verification of at least 20 per cent of people included in the list in districts bordering Bangladesh and 10 per cent in the rest of Assam.
Despite Assam's turn around, BJP leadership across the country have continued to bat for the exercise. Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari on August 31 had renewed his demand for the NRC in the national capital. He said the situation in Delhi in "dangerous" due to the presence of "illegal immigrants", including Bangladeshis and Rohingya.
BJP leaders in Telangana, too, demanded that the NRC exercise be initiated in Greater Hyderabad. "It should be implemented in Hyderabad as illegal immigrants are a major threat to the city. Thousands of Bangladeshis and Rohingya have been staying here illegally," Goashamhal MLA T Raja Singh had said.
The ABVP and the BJP, both, have demanded a citizenship registration exercise in Bihar.
States in the north east too have expressed to form their own NRC. Recently, Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh announced at the North East Democratic Alliance conclave in Guwahati that his "government has already taken a decision in the cabinet to have NRC".
“We and many of the states in the Northeast need NRC," he added.
Meanwhile, the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura has taken the initiative to unite regional parties to voice demand for the NRC. Mizoram too has passed a bill in the Assembly to create a register of all households in the state - a rudimentary version of the citizens list.
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