NRC to apply nationwide, no need to fear: Amit Shah in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi, Nov 20: Assam like citizen's list or National Register will be carried out across the country, Home Minister Amit Shah said in parliament today, asserting that all citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the list.

While assuring that there would be no discrimination on the basis of religion, Shah said the Government accepts that refugees - Hindu, Buddhists, Jain, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis, who left Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan due to religious atrocities should get Indian citizenship.

"The NRC has no such provision that says that certain religions will be excluded from it. All citizens of India irrespective of religion will figure in the NRC list. The NRC is different from the Citizenship Amendment Bill," said Shah at the Rajya Sabha.

"The process of NRC will be carried out across the country. No one irrespective of religion should be worried, it is just a process to get everyone under the NRC," he added.

Shah said people who names are missing from the draft list have the right to go to tribunals, which will be constituted across Assam.

In Assam, a total of 3,30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 were included in the document and 19,06,657 excluded.

Assam is the only state having an NRC which was first prepared in 1951. The state has faced an influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century.

It is for the first time since then that the NRC was updated.

The BJP ruled states like Karnataka, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand have expressed willingness to conduct Assam-like NRC exercise in their states.