Rajiv Gandhi signed Assam Accord, says Amit Shah defending govt over NRC protest in Parliament
New Delhi, July 31 (IBNS) While protests rocked Parliament on Tuesday over the Assam citizenship draft that rendered about four million people illegal immigrants in the northeastern state, BJP president Amit Shah countering the Opposition said the very basis of the exercise and NRC (National Register of Citizen) is the Assam Accord signed by late Congress prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
"This was a move by your prime minister only," Amit Shah told the Parliament's upper house Rajya Sabha targetting the Opposition and Congress over the issue.
Amid noisy protests, Amit Shah said "you [Congress and opposition] did not have the courage to implement it [Assam Accord]. We have the courage to do it."
The Assam Accord (1985) was signed between the Government of India led by Rajiv Gandhi and the leaders of the Assam Movement in New Delhi on 15 August 1985 after a six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).
"They are shouting over the figure of 40 lakh. I ask you who you want to save? The illegal Bangladeshis?" Amit Shah asked, adding that the NRC was being prepared under the supervision of the Supreme Court.
As pandemonium prevailed, the house was adjourned for the day.
The lower house- Lok Sabha- also witnessed protests by the opposition Trinamool Congress whose supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister went ballistic against the BJP since yesterday after the draft was published.
Sparking fears of deportation and a law and order crisis, India on Monday announced exclusion of about four million people from citizenship in the northeastern state of Assam, bordering Bangladesh, after a draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) was published.
Those excluded from the list could not prove their citizenship by providing valid documents and they are mostly Muslim immigrants who came to Assam before 1971, when countless fled Bangladesh during its freedom war. Illegal immigration across the Assam border is a burning issue over decades now.
Breaking the news on Monday, Registrar General of India, (RGI) Shailesh (who uses one name) said that, 2,89,83,677 people were found eligible for inclusion in the complete draft of NRC out of 3,29,91,384 applicants.
Thus there is over 40.07 lakh (four million) people who have missed the berth.
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