NRC won't have implications on Bangladesh: Foreign Secretary Shringla

Dhaka: India on Monday assured Bangladesh that the updation of the National Register of Citizens will have no implications for its people, asserting that it is a process that is entirely internal to the country.

Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen and Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan cancelled their visits to India in December over prevailing situation following the passage of the new citizenship bill.

Bangladesh was also apparently upset following the rollout of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam even though India conveyed to it that the issue was an internal matter of the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had taken up the issue of NRC with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their bilateral meeting in New York in September.

"Updation of National Register of Citizens is a process that is entirely internal to India," Foreign Secretary Shringla said on Monday.

"India assures Bangladesh that NRC will have no implications for the country and its people," he said at a seminar 'Bangladesh & India: A Promising Future' held in Dhaka.

Shringla, who previously served as India's high commissioner in Dhaka, is in Bangladesh on a visit during which he would meet Prime Minister Hasina and Foreign Minister Momen.

According to the Citizenship Amendment Act, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014, following religious persecution there will get Indian citizenship.