NRC in Assam: ‘People Excluded From List Will Not be Deported to Bangladesh, PM Narendra Modi Assured Sheikh Hasina’

People excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) list in Assam would not be deported to Bangladesh, a top Bangladeshi official quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as personally assuring premier Sheikh Hasina.

New Delhi: People excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) list in Assam would not be deported to Bangladesh, a top Bangladeshi official quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as personally assuring premier Sheikh Hasina. The final draft of Assam NRC was released on July 30 amid tight security out of which at least 40 lakh people were left out.

“Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally assured our premier that those who were excluded from the list under the NRC exercise will not be sent to Bangladesh,” HT Imam, Political Adviser to Hasina, was quoted as saying in a PTI report. He also termed the National Register of Citizens exercise in Assam as India’s internal affair. (ALSO READ – Assam NRC: Filing of Claims, Objections to Begin From Sept 25, End on Nov 25)

Though Imam did not elaborate on the two premier’s communication, he emphasised, “We have been repeatedly assured by India that no such thing (deportation) will happen to create any sort of political instability in Bangladesh, particularly when we (Bangladesh) are approaching our national elections by the end of the year.”

Meanwhile, claiming that the Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, Harsh Vardhan Sringla, has also repeatedly assured the country not to worry about the exercise, Imam agreed to huge exodus of people on both sides during the 1947 partition of the Indian subcontinent. “But once the exchange of population took place during the partition, people who settled on either of the sides became citizens of the country where they migrated,” he said.

He asked, “You can see Bengalis who migrated to India from here are in leading positions in many fronts of India’s economic, cultural, professional and political arenas…but should they be treated as intruders and sent back to Bangladesh?” he asked.

The issue triggered following a statement by BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav who in September had said that people excluded from the final list of Assam-specific National Register of Citizens would be de-franchised and deported to their country. Addressing a seminar on ‘NRC: Defending the Borders, Securing the Culture’, he had said, “The NRC will ensure the detection of all illegal immigrants. The next step will be delete – means deletion of names of illegal immigrants from voters list and deprive them from all government benefits. The next stage will be deportation.” The minister also claimed that the NRC is being updated as part of the ‘Assam Accord’ signed in 1985 under which the government had made a commitment to “detect, delete and deport” all illegal immigrants from the state.

The Supreme-court monitored update of the NRC is an exercise to identify genuine Indian nationals residing in Assam. After releasing the much-awaited list in July, Registrar General Sailesh, NRC state coordinator Prateek Hajela and joint secretary (NE) of the Ministry of Home Affairs Satyendra Garg addressed a press conference and said,“Out of 3.29 crore people, 2.89 crore have been found eligible to be included. This is just a draft, and not the final list.”