Days ahead of the much-awaited Haryana Assembly elections, Union Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah in an interview indicated that the BJP has started work behind the scenes for the nationwide rollout of National Register of Citizens. Shah also hinted that detention centres are being build all over the country.
In an interview, Amit Shah told News18, "The process (of detention) will be managed by the Foreigners Tribunals (FT). The government has its own preparations to make. There is a legal process where FTs are concerned. That process has just started."
Shah's statement comes amid reports that one detention centre for illegal immigrants has already been built in Karnataka, around 40 km from Bengaluru, while land for another has been identified in Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra as well. As far as the National Register of Citizens is concerned, the final list was published on August 31 which excluded over 19 lakh people while a total of 3,11,21,004 people have been declared eligible citizens of Assam.
When asked what will happen to those who are identified as illegal immigrants, Amit Shah told the News18, "A legal process will be followed. A United Nations Convention is set up, rules are there and those laws will be followed".
“The process [of detention] will be managed by the Foreigners Tribunals,” he said in an interview to News18. “The government has its own preparations to make. There is a legal process where FTs are concerned. That process has just started.”
Shah reiterated that the government will “throw out infiltrators” before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Bharatiya Janata Party president has repeatedly claimed that the NRC exercise would be implemented across the country. BJP leaders from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Tripura and Haryana have also called for the exercise to be implemented in all the states.
