Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday asserted that the Centre intends to expel all illegal immigrants, not just from Assam but from the entire country.

Addressing the fourth conclave of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the NDA's version in the northeast, the BJP president also accused successive Congress governments of having alienated the region from the rest of the country.

"Our intention is to expel illegal immigrants from the entire country and not just Assam," he declared.

He alleged the prolonged militancy in the region was because the Congress hardly cared for the region.

"The Congress governments sowed the seeds of strife in the northeast. The party did not care for the northeast and because of that militancy flourished. It always believed in the policy of divide and rule," he alleged.

On Sunday, referring to the just published NRC, Shah said, "lt was completed in a time-bound manner". The meeting was also addressed by Union Minister of State incharge of DoNER and NEC vice chairman Jitendra Singh, official sources said.

A total of 3,30,27,661 people had applied to be included in the NRC. Of them, 3,11,21,004 have been included in the updated final list and 19,06,657 excluded, the NRC State Coordinator's office had said on August 31.