NEW DELHI: Even as BJP turned the heat up on Congress and accused it of attempting to shelter “illegal immigrants” by opposing implementation of the National Register of Citizens in Assam, Congress shot back on Sunday saying even the ruling government had opposed NRC in Assam when the Supreme Court was hearing the matter.

As the fates of 40 lakh individuals living in Assam hang in balance, and the government and opposition engage in a fierce war of words, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera accused the BJP of resorting to “insensitive politics” and alleged that the Narendra Modi government had tried to stall the NRC process by appealing to the Supreme Court that such a move could lead to “law and order issues”. He also said the Attorney General of India had used the fear of violence to delay the implementation of NRC in Supreme Court in 2017, for which the government was chided by the apex court.

“The Shah of lies and the Shahenshah of Jumlas tried their best to stall NRC. But when that attempt failed, Modi government is now taking credit for the move,” said Khera. Congress also accused BJP president Amit Shah of “lying” in Parliament about the government’s show of courage to implement NRC, when in fact it was reprimanded by the Supreme Court for “sheer inaction on the part of the executive in dragging the matter for a period of three years”.

Congress also demanded that the government clear its stand on citizenship matters. Khera said, “On the one hand, Modi government seeks to give citizenship rights through the proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill (2016) to all those who migrated to India before 31 December, 2014 and on the other hand it is playing politics with NRC,” Khera said.

He also demanded the resignation of Assam chief minister Sarbanand Sonowal for being party to “shamelessly cheating” the people of Assam in Supreme Court on the issue of NRC.

Congress has alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not take up the issue of billionaire Mehul Choksi fleeing India when he visited Antigua in April this year, borne out by the Antiguan President’s statement in an interview last month in which he said there has been no application from India seeking the whereabouts of Mehul Choksi. “If something had happened between April and July, he would not have said such a thing,” the party said.

