NRC draft limited to Assam only, not other states: Ram Madhav

The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national general secretary Ram Madhav on Wednesday clarified that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) draft is restricted to the state of Assam only.

In an exclusive interview to ANI, Madhav said, "NRC was undertaken under the complete guidance and monitoring of the Supreme Court. Also, no political interference was there. Those who could not find their names on the list have got two months time now to go back and appeal to the authorities, after which the names will be included separately. Also, the NRC list is limited to Assam only. It was undertaken by Registrar General of India (RGI) under the monitoring and control of the Supreme Court".

Madhav's statement comes after BJP leader Naresh Agarwal demanded that it should be extended to all states because 'illegal Bangaldeshi migrants' are living in many parts of the country.

On deportation of illegal immigrants to other countries, Madhav underlined that future course of action in the matter would be taken once the final list is out. "There were Parliament answers on illegal infiltration which had categorically given the number of infiltrators in India. Therefore, what is so surprising about numbers being large? The list released is only a draft; there is still scope, probably there were people who could not submit their records earlier so they can do that now. Once the final figures are out, probably by the end of this year or early next year, only then future course of action will take place," Madhav told ANI.

Further lashing out at the opposition, he termed the Opposition's stand on the matter unfortunate, adding that political parties are trying to politicise and communalise the issue. "It is very unfortunate, that our national president Amit Shah was not allowed to speak on this issue in the Rajya Sabha. This matter is being politicallised by the Opposition. Otherwise, where is the question of any politics in this?" Madhav noted.

"Today, it is only the Opposition parties that are making a huge politics out of it. Also, the Opposition stand is unfortunate. All of them at some point of time are claiming that they are campaigning this cause, which shows that they are opportunists," he asserted.

Naresh Agarwal who recently joined the BJP, urged the government to extend the NRC to other states also since illegal Bangaldeshi immigrants are living across length and breadth of the country. "The NRC is a matter of national security. There are states also such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and so on where illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are living," said Agarwal on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari also pressed demand in the Lok Sabha for similar implementation in Delhi.

The first draft was published on December 31, 2017, and names of 1.9 crore of the 3.29 crore applicants were incorporated.

The final list, released on Monday, left out nearly 40 lakh people, incorporating names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 crore applicants.

Following the release of the list, the Opposition has been all out to attack the ruling party following the release of the second and the final NRC draft list.