GUWAHATI: Former Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Friday questioned the Centre over identification and deportation of illegal immigrants even as his party, Congress, strongly opposed the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
"They (BJP leaders) accuse that Congress is responsible for illegal immigrants. All right, then why don't you detect and deport them?" Gogoi told reporters here. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, both, vowed to deport illegal immigrants which is yet to be done.
"The Central government promised to get rid of illegal immigrants. Both the Prime Minister and the Home Minister promised that illegal immigrants will be deported. Why have you not identified? Who has prevented you," he asked.
Reacting to Prime Minister Modi's claim about no detention centers, Gogoi said that detention camps are in "many states including Assam and Karnataka". "The BJP-government at the Centre ordered states in 1998 for construction of detention to keep illegal immigrants who have completed their jail term," he said.
The former Chief Minister's reaction is in contravention to the official stand of the Congress to oppose the nationwide rollout of the NRC which seeks to identify illegal immigrants. In Assam, NRC was conducted on the Supreme Court's directions. Over 19 lakh people were left out of the final NRC published in August this year.