Villagers walk past CRPF personnel patrolling a road ahead of the publication of the first draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Juria village of Nagaon district of Assam. On Sunday the state government will release a draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) after a census carried out for the first time since 1951. The exercise could lead to communal tensions in Assam, which has the second highest percentage of Muslims of any Indian state. “The NRC is being done to identify illegal Bangladeshis residing in Assam,” Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam’s finance minister who is also in charge of the citizenship register, told Reuters. During that campaign, Modi told illegal immigrants in states bordering Bangladesh to have their “bags packed” ready to be sent home should he win.

Source: Mint December 30, 2017 10:18 UTC