'No Indian will be excluded from NRC,' assures Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday assured the countrymen that no Indians will be excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Highlighting the importance of NRC, Singh said the NRC was necessary to identify Indian citizens and weed out illegal immigrants.

“"I want to say that no genuine Indian will be excluded from the NRC. It is absolutely necessary to know who are Indians and who are foreigners,” said Singh as he asserted that the update of the NRC, a list of Assam’s citizens, was carried out under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court.

Singh issued the statement on the NRC while addressing the Northeast Students’ Festival in New Delhi to welcome new students from the region to the national capital.

READ | TMC, Congress Politicise Assam NRC Draft List, Rajnath Singh Hits Back, Says, “unnecessary Fear-mongering”

Earlier on July 30, following the release of second and final draft list by the Assam Government, the Union Home Minister had said that the NRC exercise was fully transparent and "unnecessary fear-mongering is being done by those who are opposing the NCR draft."

A huge controversy was triggered with a massive slugfest around the NRC draft list right after the Assam government had released it.

As per the exercise, which was directly monitored by the Supreme Court, those who entered Assam after March 24, 1971, will be viewed as illegal immigrants.

READ | Assam Government Releases Final Draft List Of National Register Of Citizens In The State, 40 Lakh Names Struck Off From The List

2,89, 83,677 persons were found eligible out of 3,29,91,384 applicants in the second draft of the NRC while names of 4,007,707 people were not included in the final Draft NRC.

While announcing the second list, Shri Shailesh, Registrar General of India, had said the process was completely transparent, fair and meticulously carried out. He also said that those who were found ineligible can file claims and objections.

He had also said that it was a draft NRC and not final NRC.

"It is a draft NRC not final NRC. Their may be objection into draft NRC. People will get ample opportunity to file claims and objections," had said Shri Shailesh, Registrar General of India.