Shillong, Nov 4: The opposition Congress has accused the BJP-led NDA government of polarizing and dividing the country by implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and bringing the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).

A six-member committee of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) arrived in Shillong on Monday as part of their visit to the North-East states to take the views and opinions of the state leaders on the two issues.

The committee- which comprises of Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh and former union minister Mukul Wasnik- would submit a report to the Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi soon after their visit.

After the meeting, Ramesh told reporters that the party is strongly opposing the anti-secular and anti-constitution CAB of the BJP as it violates Article 14 and Article 22 of the Indian Constitution.

Also terming the CAB as an “RSS-BJP project” to divide India on religious lines, the MP said, “Political parties usually takes a political stand but the Congress is taking a principle stand on the CAB because it is destroying the very basis of the Indian constitution and making religion the basis of citizenship and this is one thing Ambedkar warned us against, Gandhi warned us against…”

He however said it is ironic that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be speaking on the occasion of celebrating the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the draft of the Constitution on November 26 and at the same time he is pushing a Bill which is destroying the very constitution. “This is double standard and double face but we will do what we have to do,” he added.

Stating that it was a setback for the BJP in Maharashtra and Haryana, Ramesh said the BJP should learn their lessons as they went to the polls on Article 370, CAB and NRC but people’ worries and concerns were different.

“But if they persist, which I think they will because that is in their DNA but we will continue to oppose,” he said.

Asked, the Congress leader said the party is reaching out to other political parties for their support against the CAB.

“Politics is more than a number game politics is about standing up for principles and for values. We are reaching out to other political parties, some will support us and some will not and now it all depend on how active the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is and Income Tax is – these are instruments of governance for Modi and Amit Shah…we may not have the numbers in Lok Sabha or in Rajya Sabha but will continue to fight,” he said.

On the other hand, the MP said that the Congress is not against the principles of the NRC to identify illegal migrants but against the way it has been executed and the problem inherent in the implementation.

“There have been untold sufferings to genuine Indian Citizens. What are these detention centres we are building? As an Indian, I find it shameful…let us understand what the end result of this NRC is going to be,” he said.

Pointing out that the NRC in Assam was a historic legacy which is part of the 1985 Assam Peace Accord, Ramesh said there has been talks that millions and millions of illegal migrants in Assam and as of now only 19 lakh foreigners have been detected without valid documents.

He said NRC is a very complicated exercise and it requires public education, awareness and help as it requires paper work which poor people do not have.

“Already as part of the census we created a national population register which we have been doing every 10 years. But the political purpose of the BJP (through NRC) is to divide Indian society, to create a diversion from economic issues. If they are genuinely concern about identifying illegal migrants let us sit together, let us device a system and let us implement it in a manner which does not create problems for the poor section of the society. You and I will have papers but a large majority of our citizens do not have papers. We should learn our lesson from the implementation of NRC in Assam, before embarking on another NRC exercise,” he added.

The Congress leader further suggested the Centre to take political consensus before jumping into NRC outside Assam.

“To repeat NRC exercise in other states requires lots of home work. We have to create a political climax and we have to ensure that NRC does not become an instrument of harassment causing unnecessary fear to genuine citizens,” he said.

According to him, NRC cannot happen overnight but will take some years. “However, we have to ensure that we will now allow India to become a haven for illegal migrants,” he said.