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GUWAHATI: In a stern message to illegal “Bangladeshi” migrants, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Tuesday said that his government wouldn’t give any constitutional rights to the people who fail to make it to the final National Register of Citizens ( NRC ), and would allow them to live in India on humanitarian grounds until the Centre takes a decision on their expulsion.

Sonowal’s strongly worded message comes less than 48 hours after the publication of the first draft of the NRC in which 1.9 crore of the 3.29 crore applicants have found place. The NRC exercise is likely to be over by the end of the year. The office of the NRC coordinator in Guwahati was Sonowal’s first port of call after he took over as the state’s first BJP chief minister in June 2016.

In a telephonic interview with TOI, Sonowal said, “The people who are declared foreigners will be barred from all constitutional rights, including fundamental and electoral. They will have only one right — human rights as guaranteed by the UN that include food, shelter and clothing.” The CM said the “historic” NRC draft would make the distinction between a bona fide Indian and a foreigner.

“The first NRC draft includes about 40% of the total applicants. Scrutiny of the second draft will begin soon. Once this phase is over, the people who do not find place in the NRC will have to follow the judicial process to establish their claim to Indian citizenship. They will have to present relevant documents mentioned in the NRC modalities,” he said.

Aware of the fact that India and Bangladesh do not have any deportation treaty, he said, “The issue of deportation will come later. First, our target is to segregate the foreigners. What steps we will take against them will come next.” He said the NRC would permanently change the lives of the people of the state.

“For almost 40 years, our people have been living in a state of confusion and uncertainty. The NRC will end this. It is a win-win situation for everybody. Nobody will question anybody’s citizenship.”