Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah publicly denied the existence of detention centres in India. PM Modi, in a speech delivered on 22 December, said, “The Congress and its allies – some urban Naxals – are spreading rumours that all Muslims will be sent to detention centres... Neither is anybody sending the country’s Muslims to detention centres nor are there any detention centres in India.”

Two days later, Shah seemed to clarify, saying that no detention centres have been made since the Modi-led government came to power.

An advisory was circulated by MHA to all the states with instructions to set up detention centres. The Ministry confirmed to The Quint that an advisory of the kind was indeed issued to all states.