National ID Cards Likely To Be Issued To Indian Citizens After Nationwide NRC: Sources

The Narendra Modi government may issue national ID cards to Indian citizens after the nation-wide implementation of National Citizen Register (NRC), according to government sources. The national ID cards will be issued to people only after their Indian citizenship is proved under the NRC. The sources claimed that there is a provision to issue national ID cards under the law.

The development has come amid nationwide protests against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act. It has also come days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah told Parliament that his government will definitley implement the NRC across the nation.

In a bid to weed out infiltrators, the NRC is an exercise implemented in northeastern state of Assam, where illegal migrants from neighbouring country Bangladesh has been a contentious issue. Published last month, as many as 19 lakh Assamese were excluded from the register of national citizens. Most of the people excluded from the NRC are non-Muslims.

However, they will not lose their citizenship as the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has provision to grant amensty to illegal non-Muslims who will not be able to prove their Indian citizenship. However, it is yet not clear what would happen to Muslims, who would not be able to provide proof of their Indian citizenship during the NRC. People from Muslim community are not entitled to the benifits of the CAA.

However, in a blow to the Narendra Modi government's plan to implement the NRC across the country, its ally in Bihar JDU has categorically said that the NRC will not be implemented in Bihar. When questioned about it, JDU president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar todl reporters that he will not implement the NRC in the state.