The Karnataka government has decided to spell out that it's proposed plan of implementing an exercise like the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state was different from the detention centre for illegal immigrants that is set to open soon.
The development comes three weeks after state Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the state government is collecting information on illegal immigrants and that the National Register of Citizens (NRC), first implemented in Assam, is being discussed with a view of implementing it in Karnataka.
However, after receiving flak from many quarters for the proposal to implement the controversial NRC in the state, Basavaraj Bommai sought to differentiate the purpose of the detention centre in Nelamangala from an NRC-like exercise.
Detention centre in Nelamangala
"The detention centre is a different issue. A detention centre is in Delhi for a long time. A similar detention centre was built by the Social Welfare department and it will be operational very soon. This has nothing to do with NRC. It is to detain illegal immigrants without required documents like visa and passport," Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai told reporters on Tuesday.
However, he added that there was no question of abandoning the idea of NRC in Karnataka.
"There is no question of dropping NRC. The policy (decision) has to be taken by the central government. I repeat what I have said that we are trying to get the database and once that database is there, we will submit it to the Home Ministry (Union Government) and a decision will be taken," Basavaraj Bommai said.
Karnataka government has repurposed a hostel built for SC/ST students in Nelamangala, around 40 km outside Bengaluru, into a detention centre for illegal immigrants. The hostel was built in 1992 and closed down in 2008.