Rajiv Gandhi had accepted NRC in Assam accord: Modi on Congress stand

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a swipe at Congress for not taking credit for National Register of Citizens (NRC) which the government of late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's had accepted.

"The Congress claims credit for everything Will you not take credit for NRC? Rajiv Gandhi had accepted NRC in the Assam accord. Then the Supreme Court had to intervene. Also, the SC had directed us. So we have implemented it. So why are you not taking credit for this? You want votes but don't want credit. Don't speak half-truth," he said while replying to the debate on the President's address in the Rajya Sabha.

The Prime Minister maintained that the government was committed to implementing NRC to weed out the illegal immigrants.

"We are committed to implementing NRC which was decided during that time in the national interest. It (NRC) is not a matter of vote bank politics for us. Unity, integrity and prosperous future of the country is related to NRC," he said.

In his address to the joint sitting of Parliament, President Ram Nath Kovind had said the Centre has decided to implement the process of NRC on a priority basis in areas affected by infiltration.

NRC is a register containing names of Indian citizens, which was prepared for the only time in 1951 and is being updated for only Assam to weed out the illegal immigrants.

The Supreme Court-monitored NRC exercise, aimed at identifying illegal immigrants in the state that borders Bangladesh, was carried out only in Assam, which faced an influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century.

When the draft NRC was published on July 30, 2018, there was a huge controversy over the exclusion of 40.7 lakh people from it. The draft NRC included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total 3.29 crore applications. The final list of the NRC will be published on July 31, 2019.