The chief minister’s statements come a day after his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar said NRC would be implemented in the state.

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has called the implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) an “important and brave” decision of the government and said the state can look at rolling out the exercise in phases if the need arises.

“In the first phase, it has been Assam and the way it is being implemented there, it can be an example for us. Using their experience, we can start it here phase-wise,” Adityanath said in an interview to Indian Express. He added that the step was crucial for national security and would block the rights of poor being taken away by illegal immigrants.

The chief minister’s statements come a day after his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar said NRC would be implemented in the state. “We will implement NRC in Haryana,” Khattar told reporters in Panchkula after meeting Justice HS Bhalla (retd) and former Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba at their residences here.

Khattar received support from unlikely quarters as his predecessor Bhupinder Singh Hooda said: “What the chief minister has said is the law. Foreigners have to leave; it is the responsibility of the government to identify them.”

On August 31, the final NRC in Assam was released, leaving out 19 lakh people. The process of NRC update was started in Assam following a Supreme Court order in 2013 and since then, the apex court has closely monitored the entire process. However, several political parties, including the BJP in the northeastern state, have voiced their dissatisfaction with the final document.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has criticised the exercise, warning the BJP not to play with fire in the name of NRC. “I dare the BJP to touch a single person in Bengal in the name of NRC. I will not let the NRC happen in Bengal till I am alive. If I die, then my young leaders will fight against this conspiracy to divide people in the name of religion,” Banerjee had said.

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