NRC to complete before 2024: Amit Shah

Union HomeMinister Amit Shah on Monday set a deadline of 2024 to conduct the NationalRegister of Citizens (NRC) exercise across the country, even as a verbal war ofwords erupted between the BJP and the Congress in the Lok Sabha over thelatter's Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's 'infiltrators' jibe at Shah and PrimeMinister Narendra Modi.

Speaking in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum, the Home Minister, slamming Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, said, "Rahul Gandhi asks why the government wants to bring NRC. He asks us why we want to expel the infiltrators. He asks where will they go, where will they live. Are they his cousins or what?"

"Before2024, the BJP will evict every single infiltrator from the country," Shah, whois also the party's national President, further, said.

Jharkhand is currently in the middle of five-phase Assembly Elections, the first phase of which was conducted on November 30. The other four phases are scheduled for December 7, 12, 16 and 20. Counting of votes will be done and the result announced on December 23.

This is for the second time in recent days that Shah has given a tough statement on the NRC. Last month, speaking in Rajya Sabha, he had said that the NRC would be implemented across the country. He has been a vocal advocate of the exercise, despite opposition and criticism from various quarters, including many within the BJP itself.

It was in reference to this, that Chowdhury, who is the Congress' leader in the Lower House, had remarked that the Prime Minister and the Home Minister themselves are 'migrants' as despite being from Gujarat, they are staying in Delhi.