Assam NRC issue: Now MNS demands survey of Bangladeshi citizens in India

Rhyming to the tune of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) too joined the bandwagon on National Register of Citizens (NRC) list with a demand to survey Bangladeshi citizens ‘living illegally’ in India. MNS released a statement on Tuesday and had called the excluded people living in Assam as ‘illegal infiltrators’.

Known for controversial stand on raging issues, MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar said in a statement, “It has now been proved that over 40 lakh people (in Assam) are illegal infiltrators. (MNS chief) Raj Thackeray has been talking about this issue for several years.”

Citing example of how people settle down in Mumbai, the former MLA said, “People from across the country settle down in Mumbai. It includes Bangladeshi infiltrators who come here illegally. These people not only cause a strain on the resources of the city, but also pose a grave danger to the law and order situation.”

The statement further adds, as reported in India Today,  “A similar exercise on the lines of NRC should be conducted in Mumbai urgently. The government should form a special task force for this, and it should be given powers to evict these illegal Bangladeshis,” he said.

As per the report, 40.07 lakh people will have to prove their identity in order to stay in India. In the NRC draft, 2.89 crore people have been found eligible out of the 3.29 crore population in Assam. Soon after the report was released in Guwahati on Monday, politicians from across the country have made controversial comments.