Amit Shah, the Home Minister of India, on the 20th of November, announced the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process would be implemented across India.
During the ongoing Winter Session of the Parliament, Amit Shah said the NRC process would be carried out without any discrimination based on religion.
Mr. Shah addressed the Members of Parliament (MPs) and Om Birla, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and said, “The process of NRC will be carried out across the Country. No one irrespective of their religion should be worried. It is just a process to get everyone under the NRC.”
Clarifying doubts about the process, Amit Shah said the NRC process in Assam took place after the Supreme Court passed an order for the same. He further said people belonging to different religions should not be worried as “there is no question of any discrimination on the basis of religion. The NRC is a different process and the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) is different.”
Shah said those individuals whose names are not included in the NRC list across India can approach tribunals and the Government would bear the cost if someone does not have the financial resources for legal proceedings.
However, many states refused to accept the NRC process. Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, said the Trinamool Congress (TMC) would not allow the NRC process to be implemented in West Bengal.
As soon as Amit Shah made the announcement about the NRC process being held countrywide, Ms. Banerjee said no one can take anyone’s citizenship. She highlighted the NRC process in Assam and said approximately 19 lakh people were excluded from the final list. She challenged the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to first explain the reason as to why so many Hindus and Bengali citizens of Assam were left out from the list.
Mamata Banerjee said, “A few people are trying to foment trouble in the state by saying that NRC exercise will be carried out in Bengal. I would like to make it very clear that we will never allow the NRC exercise in Bengal.”
Apart from the NRC implementation, Shah also discussed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, which seeks to provide citizenship to non Muslim refugees like Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Sikhs and Parsi.
The Winter Session of the Parliament would continue the discussion about the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, on the 21st of November, the 4th day of the Session.
The Winter Session of the Parliament began from the 18th of November and would continue till the 13th of December.
Stay tuned for further updates.
