PM Modi was right, no talk on Pan-India NRC right now, says Amit Shah

New Delhi, Dec 24: There is no discussion on a nationwide NRC or National Register of Citizens right now, home minister Amit Shah stressed today, days after PM Narendra Modi appeared to contradict him on the controversial subject amid protests across the nation.

"There is no need to debate this (pan-India NRC) as there is no discussion on it right now, PM Modi was right, there is no discussion on it yet either in the Cabinet or Parliament," Amit Shah told news agency ANI.

Asked about the large dentention centres being built in the country, Amit Shah said that "Detention centres have nothing to do with CAA or NRC. Detention centres have been there in India for many years, they have not been built by the Modi government." He further clarified that these centres are only meant for illegal immigrants.

Modi's remark that his government never discussed a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) drew sharp reactions from the opposition parties on Monday with the Congress alleging the BJP is trying to fool the country and the Left accusing him of lying.

Seeking to allay apprehensions, especially among Muslims on the NRC, the prime minister told a rally in Delhi on Sunday that his government has never discussed it since coming to power for the first time in 2014.

The NRC has been discussed neither in Parliament nor in the Cabinet, he said.

"Since my government first came to power in 2014, I want to tell 130 crore countrymen, there has never been a discussion on this NRC," he said, noting that it was done only in Assam due to a Supreme Court order.

The Congress noted that the BJP in its Jharkhand assembly election manifesto claimed it will implement the NRC and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said it will be implemented across the country, but the prime minister is now claiming just the opposite.