Government committed to completing NRC on time: Rajnath

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the government was committed to completing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) process within the stipulated time, ensuring "neither any Indian nationals name will be excluded nor any foreigners name included in the final NRC". In a statement, the Minister said the government led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has carried forward the NRC process.

After signing of the Assam Accord in 1985, Singh said the Centre and the Assam government have completed the NRC work that remained pending for more than thirty years. The Home Minister said the complete NRC draft was published on July 30, 2018 and thereafter the claims and objections process has also been completed by December 31, 2018.

"The Home Ministry has made available necessary funds and resources to the state government so that the NRC work is completed in a time bound and impartial manner. Central armed forces have been deployed in the state over the last one-and-a-half years to maintain law and order in view of the enormity of the NRC exercise," Singh added. His remarks came after the Supreme Court on Tuesday came down heavily on the Home Ministry over its request to withdraw Central forces deployed in Assam for the NRC exercise citing Lok Sabha elections. Expressing anguish over the MHA demand, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said the Centre was hell-bent on not allowing the NRC process to go on.