With the second draft of Assam's National Register of Citizens (

NRC

) coming out on Monday, CM

Sarbananada

Sonowal

tells

Neeraj Chauhan

nobody will be treated as a foreigner if his/her name is not on the draft list. Excerpts

The NRC second draft will be out on Monday. What is the government's strategy to deal with the situation and how will you make sure that all sides are satisfied?

What about the people who couldn't prove their citizenship once the NRC is out tomorrow?

Are you anticipating violence in the state once the list is out?

Has any decision been taken on deportation of illegal immigrants once the list is out? Is there a plan?

What are your comments on the Citizenship Amendment Bill, which proposes to give citizenship to religious minorities from Bangladesh, Pakistan etc.

When we came to power two years ago, we promised to free the state from illegal immigrants. Updating the NRC is an important tool to identify illegal migrants . We also believe that a flawless NRC will be the primary security shield for people living in the Barak-Brahmaputra valleys, hills and plains of Assam.One must remember that the NRC to be published on Monday is only a draft and genuine citizens who are left out from the draft NRC need not panic as they could still get their names enrolled in the final NRC.No one will be treated as a foreigner if his or her name does not appear in the NRC draft.Once the complete draft is out, ample opportunity will be given to applicants to prove their eligibility for inclusion in the final NRC through claims and objections.I have faith in the political maturity of the people. We all have seen how the people acted when the first draft NRC was published. I am sure that this time also, people of Assam will display similar maturity.The final NRC, which will be out after going through a legal process under the supervision of the Supreme Court, will provide us a tool to distinguish between a bona fide Indian and a foreigner.So, our priority is to identify foreigners. What steps government takes will come next.The Centre has assured that before taking any step, the people of Assam will be taken into confidence.