Guwahati: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that no Indian will be left out of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), and reiterated that his government was determined to go ahead and pass the Citizenship (Amendemnt) Bill 2016.
Addressing a massive BJP rally at Ramnagar at the outskirts of Silchar town in South Assam, Mr Modi said: “Aapko fir se bharosa deta hoon, koi bhi bharatiya nagrik National Register of Citizens of India (NRC) mein se nahi chootega” (I assure you, no Indian will be left outside of the NRC).
Making it clear that the BJP government at the Centre was determined to pass the Citizenship Bill, Mr Modi said the Centre’s move to pass the Citize-nship (Amendment ) Bill 2016 was aimed at “atoning” for a “Himalayan blunder” committed during the Partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
“The Citizenship Bill is not for anyone’s benefit, but a penance against the injustice done in the past, I hope it will be passed soon in Parliament,” said the PM, and this was widely welcomed by the crowd present at the rally.
The Citizenship Bill, which has whipped up massive protests across the Brahmaputra Valley inAssam by indigenous peoples’ groups, is to grant citizenship to refugees from minority communities, including Hindu Bengalis, in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
