Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be implemented nationwide.
Sarma, who was in Bhubaneswar on Thursday for a party programme, said: "We have NRC in our state. That is why we have taken a decision to give Aadhaar cards to only those people who have earlier applied for the NRC. I believe, this decision will help to stop illegal infiltration in Assam. According to me, there should be a NRC in the whole country so that we can understand who are the actual citizens of India and who have infiltrated from the foreign soil to our territory."
The Assam Chief Minister even managed to take a pot shot at his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, terming her "soft on infiltrators".
He said: "The international border with Bangladesh has river boundaries in many places where we can not install fencing. However, using technology, the security was beefed up along these places in Assam and Tripura. But in West Bengal, the government has taken a soft stand towards infiltrations which is making the border porous."
While talking to WION, Sarma also said that "One Nation One Election" is a good initiative and it can bring more development to the country.
"In Assam, almost in a gap of two years, we are having either Lok Sabha polls or Assembly elections. This has been impacting the pace of development work. While in Odisha, people have been voting only once in five years for both Lok Sabha and Assembly. This is giving more room for the development," he added.
On Wednesday, Sarma announced that the state government would begin to verify Aadhaar card applicants and reject those whose families have not sought to be listed on the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
In September this year, Sarma made the announcement that Aadhaar cards will be linked to NRC applications.
He says that the government has now decided that such a standard operating procedure for all Aadhaar cards in future, which would ask people to provide their NRC application number to them when they were made to apply in 2015.
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