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Updated: Dec 29, 2018 00:37 IST

BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday questioned the Congress’s opposition to the National Register of Citizenship (NRC) exercise that is being carried out in Assam.

Referring to the 40 lakh people who had been left out of the NRC as infiltrators, Amit Shah said that the Congress was making a ruckus over the issue in Parliament.

“In Assam alone, 40 lakh infiltrators were identified. Soon Rahul baba and his company started making a ruckus in the Parliament. Why are you so worried about them? You worry about infiltrators but not for our citizens who die in bomb blasts by the infiltrators,” he said while addressing the party’s booth workers in the national capital.

“The 2019 elections are not just to ensure BJP’s victory and to bring back Narendra Modi as prime minister, but is also the last farewell to those who indulge in dynastic politics, racism and appeasement politics,” Amit Shah said while exhorting the workers to ensure another BJP victory in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

He also criticised the Congress on the issue of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and accused it of harbouring those who had indulged in the riots.

“The Congress party has always protected the 1984 riots and today it has been proven that Congress leaders were involved in the riots. The Congress should answer why the party had not punished the perpetrators of the riots in so many years,” he said while referring to former Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s conviction and sentencing by the Delhi High Court recently.

Also read: Sajjan Kumar’s plea for more time to surrender in 1984 anti-Sikh riots conviction rejected by High Court

Till last month, of the 40 lakh people who had been left out of the NRC draft list, only about 4.5 lakh had applied for inclusion while the remaining 35.5 lakh were yet to apply.

The draft NRC was published on July 30 and included the names of 2.9 crore people out of the total applications of 3.29 crore.

The exercise is aimed at identifying illegal immigrants in the state that borders Bangladesh was carried out only in Assam, which faced influx of people from Bangladesh since the early 20th century.

When the NRC was first prepared in Assam way back in 1951, the state had 80 lakh citizens then.

Also read: India not a ‘dharamshala’ for illegal immigrants, says Amit Shah on NRC

As per the 2011 census, Assam’s total population is over 3.11 crore. The process of identification of illegal immigrants in Assam has been widely debated and become a contentious issue in the state’s politics.

A six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was launched by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) in 1979.

It culminated with the signing of the Assam Accord on August 15, 1985, in the presence of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.