‘Detect, delete & deport’ those not on NRC: says BJP’s Ram Madhav

September 11: Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) Coordinator Prateek Hajela’s earlier assurances that no action would be taken against people missing from the final draft of NRC has been challenged. In contrast to Hajela’s assurance, BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Monday said that people missing from the list would eventually be deported.

“Three steps will be taken after NRC. Detect, Delete and Deport. NRC will ensure detection of illegal immigrants. Next step will be disenfranchisement- deletion of names of illegal immigrants from voters list and deprive them from government benefits. 3rd stage will be deportation,” Ram Madhav said on the NRC which was made to identify genuine Indian citizens as opposed to illegal immigrants.

Addressing a seminar on ‘NRC: Defending the Borders, Securing the culture,” Ram Madhav said,  “The cultural identity of the state, the livelihoods and lands of the Assamese people are at stake here. Added to all this, the politics of the state is getting influenced by this.” Slamming those who have said that India will have to face international criticism if illegal immigrants are deported, the BJP leader said even Bangladesh has been in active talks with Myanmar to deport lakhs of Rohingya people, who have taken shelter there to escape persecution in Myanmar. The BJP General Secretary added that no country in the world tolerates illegal immigrants but India has become a “dharamshala” (lodge) for illegal immigrants due to political considerations.

Responding to the claim that many genuine applicants have lost out in the race, and on being asked how confident he was about the legal bureaucratic machinery that was handling this mammoth exercise, Madhav said the machinery was “full proof” and it took two years for 40,000 staff members in Assam to finish the process.

The said seminar was also attended by Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. CM Sonowal said that NRC should be implemented across India.

The final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam was released on 30 July, with names of 40, 07,707 persons excluded from the list. There were 3.29 crore applicants. It has included over 28 million individuals, thus giving them a pride of place as citizens, while excluding four million residents of the state.