Detention camps were set under the Foreigners Act during UPA rule, context different now: Chidambaram

Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said that detention camps were set up under the Foreigners Act during the UPA regime but the context was very different now.

"Detention camps were set under the Foreigners Act, not in the context of Citizenship Amendment Act or NRC. The Foreigners Act requires any person who is detected as a foreigner must be kept in a camp. And there was a PIL and High Court directed Assam to set up the camp. Central government provided the funds... The context today is very different... we are not setting up camps under the Foreigners Act, we are not setting up camps under directions of a high court or Supreme Court," Chidambaram said during a press conference here.

He said the BJP-led government wants to set up camps by virtue of NRC and 19 lakh people have excluded from final version of NRC in Assam.

"In Assam, the camp is being constructed because of NRC. In 2012, I don't know who was the Home Minister at that time, depends on which part of the year - if some order come, please set up a camp, they must have said, set up a camp for 100 people or 200 people. Did they want to set up a camp for 19 lakh people? What are we talking about? We must talk with facts and the context," Chidambaram said.

"Where will you build? What is the cost of building a camp for 19 lakh people? And neither the Prime Minister nor the Home Minister is answering the question, what are you going to do with the 19 lakh people?" he asked.

Home Minister had told ANI in an interview that several tribunals have been set up for the people who have been excluded from the final version of NRC and they were staying at their home only.