The implementation of NRC is "important and brave decision", Yogi Adityanath said. (File)

Highlights Citizens' list is important for national security, Yogi Adityanath said

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar made similar remarks on Sunday

Assam Citizens' list - published last month - has left out 19 lakh people

An Assam-like National Register of Citizens or NRC will be implemented in Uttar Pradesh when the state needs it, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said, adding that the implementation of citizens' list in Assam is an "important and brave decision".

"This is an important and a brave decision of implementing the court's order. I believe that we should congratulate the Prime Minister and the Home Minister for this. These things are being implemented phase-wise and I feel that when Uttar Pradesh will need an NRC, we will do so," Mr Adityanath told The Indian Express in an interview.

The implementation of citizen's list in Assam can be an example for Uttar Pradesh, he further said.

"In the first phase, it has been Assam and the way it is being implemented there, it can be an example for us. Using their experience, we can start it here phase-wise. It is important for national security and it will also put a stop on the rights of poor being taken away by illegal immigration," Mr Adityanath was quoted as saying by the daily.

On Sunday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar made similar remarks. The state will soon prepare a citizens' list "to check illegal immigration", he said.

"In Haryana we will implement NRC along the lines of Assam," Mr Khattar said in Haryana's Panchkula after meetings with former Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba and a retired high court judge HS Bhalla where the issue was discussed.

The final Assam Citizens' list, which was released last month, has left out nearly 19 lakh people. Over the next few months, those left out will try to prove their citizenship before 300 foreigners tribunals set up across the state.

To "root out illegal immigrants", particularly from neighbouring Muslim-majority nations, Home Minister Amit Shah has called for a nationwide exercise, similar to NRC.