Amit Shah says NRC to be across India, J&K situation normal

NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the exercise for creating a National Register of Citizens will be carried out across the country and Assam, where 1.9 million people did not find a place in the final NRC list, will again be covered along with other states.

Replying to queries in the Rajya Sabha, Shah also claimed the situation in J&K has returned to normal and said Internet services will be restored as soon as the local administration feels the conditions are conducive for doing so.

“The NRC exercise which was undertaken in Assam was done on the orders of the Supreme Court and under a separate Act; when NRC process is taken up in the whole country, it will be taken up again in the natural course in Assam as well,” Shah said.

The gazette notification of September 7, 2015, made in the case of Assam will be applicable to the rest of India as well, he said.

Swapan Dasgupta, a presidential nominee to the Upper House, had sought to know if in Assam a distinction is being made between illegal immigrants and non-citizens.


Shah assured the house that people of any religion have nothing to fear about NRC as it has the provision for including all citizens. All those whose names have not been included in the final NRC list in Assam have a right to go to the tribunal that will be set up in every tehsil in the state, he said. Those not having the money to hire a lawyer will be provided one by the government.

Shah said NRC should not be mixed up with the Citizenship Amendment Bill that proposes to provide citizenship to all illegal migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan belonging to Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Parsi, Jain and Buddhist religions. They will be treated as victims of religious persecution and this is the reason for their seeking citizenship in India. The bill is on the government agenda in this session of Parliament.

Replying to questions on the situation in Kashmir, the home minister insisted that there is normalcy.

Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad wanted to know when Internet services will be restored in the Valley as it is hampering normal life, including education of students. While school students’ attendance for exams is 98%, only 5% students are able to attend classes, he alleged.

Shah said a decision on restoring Internet services will be taken at the right time in consultation with the local administration. “Everybody knows that a lot of activity of the neighbouring country keeps taking place in Kashmir. This decision can be taken only after taking a look at the law and order and security situation there,” he said. He said 280 eterminals have been opened in 10 districts to facilitate important work.

Shah said there was no curfew in any of the 195 police station areas there. Medicines are available at shops, and in Srinagar alone hospitals had dealt with 791,000 OPD cases in October. “If any member has any information of somebody needing health services in some remote area, he can contact me; I assure that it will be provided within 24 hours,” he said.

He said the number of incidents of stone pelting has come down to 544 this year from 802 last year.

Minister of state for home G Kishen Reddy evaded a direct reply when asked whether the government will let National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah — who is under house arrest — attend Parliament. He said 33 leaders were jailed by the Indira Gandhi government during the Emergency.