NRC should be implemented across India including Bihar, West Bengal: Giriraj Singh

Union Minister Giriraj Singh on Sunday said that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be implemented across the country, including Bihar and West Bengal.

"The NRC should also be implemented across the country and in Bihar and West Bengal," Giriraj Singh told ANI here.

"The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) has been passed by parliament. There is some confusion for sure in North-eastern India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that there will be no loss to the North-east due to CAA. But it is painful when students of Aligarh Muslim University, who have been motivated by Rahul Gandhi, protest against the CAA. The CAA is not a law to take away citizenship but to grant it. India is the only country where the opposition is against the country itself," he added.

Protests erupted in several parts of the North-east following the passage of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi and Christian communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

However, the Act will not apply to areas covered under "The Inner Line" notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

"Nothing in this section shall apply to the tribal area of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under "The Inner Line" notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873," read a Gazette notification.