Reuters
NEW DELHI
India will identify and deport illegal immigrants from across the country, the interior minister said on Wednesday, stepping up a campaign that critics say could stoke religious tension and further alienate minority Muslims.
An exercise to identify alien immigrants from Muslim-majority Bangladesh has been going on in the northeastern state of Assam for years, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government has taken it up in earnest. The campaign was a key issue in this year’s general election, won by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist party.
Home Minister Amit Shah told parliament the government would not limit its efforts to Assam, but would come down hard on illegal immigrants anywhere.