New Delhi: The release of final draft of  the National Register of Citizens or NRC in Assam has become a hot-button issue with the ruling and Oppositon parties vociferously taking potshots at each other. BJP chief Amit Shah came out to defend the government on Tuesday saying "Rajiv Gandhi signed the Assam accord in 1985, which was similar to NRC. But the Congress did not have courage to implement it, while the Modi government did it."

These comments of his in the Rajya Sabha triggered an uproar by Opposition parties forcing Chairman Venakaiah Naidu to adjourn the House fir 10 minutes. Congress members taking umbrage at the comments also leaped on to the Well of the House to protest.


The House was earlier adjourned till noon after ruckus by TMC members over the issue of non-inclusion of over 40 lakh people in Assam's National Register of Citizens. Mamata's party has been leading the charge against the government accusing the BJP-led central government of resorting to "vote-bank politics" with regard to the NRC and said "Indian citizens have become refugees" in their own land. (WATCH HIS SPEECH BELOW)



TMC members' protests led to no transaction of business in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Out of the 3.29 crore applicants, only 2.89 crore have been found eligible for inclusion in the complete second and final draft of NRC. This meant that the names of 40.07 lakh have been omitted.

According to a PTI report, t he application process had started in May 2015 and a total of 6.56 crore documents were received from 68.31 lakh families across Assam for updation of the NRC under the direction of the Supreme Court. During the update process of the ambitious NRC, touted to be the identity document of Assamese, 62,614 people, including 52,038 government employees were engaged.