Vowing to weed out illegal immigrants living in the country, Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise will be implemented across India and will not remain limited Assam. 

Assam is the only state to implement the NRC, a register containing names of Indian citizens. The list was prepared to weed out illegal immigrants, especially from Bangladesh, living in Assam. The final Assam NRC list, published on August 31, includes names of 3,11,21,004 residents while 19,06,657 people have been excluded.

Speaking at an event organised by Hindi daily Hindustan in Ranchi, Shah said, "We will extend NRC to the rest of the country and create a national register of citizens. There should be a list of all citizens of the country. It is NRC and not Assam Register of Citizens."

The minister said no country allows anyone to live in its territory illegally then why should India be an exception. 

“Can an Indian go and live illegally in the US, UK, Russia? No, then how can other nationals reside in India without legal documentation? That’s why I believe National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be implemented all over the country,” he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times. 

Last week, on his first visit to Assam after the NRC list came out, Shah had declared that the Centre will throw "every single infiltrator" out of the country.

"Many people are raising different kinds of questions about NRC. I want to make it clear that not a single ‘ghuspethiya’ (infiltrator) will be allowed to stay in the country by the Indian government. It is our resolve," Shah said while addressing the 68th Plenary Session of the North Eastern Council in Guwahati on Septemeber 8. 

Following the publication fo the final NRC list in Assam. several BJP ruled states have vowed to implement the exercise in their respective states.