'An ongoing process', says India after Bangladesh raises NRC issue during discussions

Bangladesh raised the issue of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) during the discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina on Saturday.

According to sources, the India side, however, pointed out that it is an ongoing process and "we have to see how the situation emerges."

On Friday, while addressing a press conference, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson, Raveesh Kumar had also said that NRC was a Supreme Court-mandated process and was ongoing.

"On NRC, we have been saying that this is a Supreme Court-mandated process. It is an ongoing exercise. Therefore, from the MEA perspective, there is nothing that I can add at this stage. I think it is important to understand that the due process has to be completed first," Kumar has said during a press briefing yesterday.

On September 1, it was reported that India had said people excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam have not become "Stateless" and will enjoy all rights as before till they exhaust all remedies available under the law.

"Exclusion from the NRC has no implication on the rights of an individual resident in Assam. For those who are not in the final list will not be detained and will continue to enjoy all the rights as before till they have exhausted all the remedies available under the law. It does not make the excluded person 'Stateless'," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar had said.

He had termed as "incorrect" commentaries in sections of the foreign media about aspects of the final NRC.

Kumar had said updating of the NRC is a statutory, transparent, legal process mandated by the Supreme Court and this is not an executive-driven process.