Congress, Trinamool Compromising India’s Sovereignty, Says Arun Jaitley On Assam NRC Row 

Hitting out at the Congress and Trinamool Congress for compromising the sovereignty of India on the issue pf Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC), Union minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday (1 August) said political leaders must realise that “sovereignty and citizenship are the soul of India” and not “imported vote banks”, reported news agency ANI.

He wrote in a Facebook post that India’s sovereignty is paying a heavy price because of the quality of its political discourse. "Though Mrs Indira Gandhi and Mr Rajiv Gandhi took a particular position in 1972 and 1985 for the deletion and deportation of foreigners, Rahul Gandhi takes a contrarian position and his party turns turtle,” the Union minister was quoted as saying in the report.

Accusing the West Bengal Chief Minister of changing her stand on the issue of illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Jaitley said that as a federal front leader, Banerjee was also taking a contrary view. “Can India’s sovereignty be decided by such fickle minds and fragile hands?”

He also debunked the argument that dropping four million people from the NRC was a human rights issue. “A refugee on account of persecution may have a humanitarian consideration. Illegal migration does not have it. There is not fundamental right to any person to do so,” he said.

The opposition Congress and Trinamool Congress have disrupted Rajya Sabha proceeding for the last three days over the draft NRC published in Guwahati on Monday that left out four million residents of Assam. The NRC exercise is aimed at identification and deportation of illegal immigrants.