The Assam Congress on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to take suo motu action against BJP national president Amit Shah for allegedly defying the court’s authority by saying that the BJP would draw up the National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country only after passing the citizenship (amendment) bill.

Shah had said in Calcutta on Monday that if voted back to power, the BJP would pass the citizenship bill and then draw up the NRC for the entire country to identify infiltrators. His comment had drawn flak from All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and various other organisations.

The NRC is a register containing the names of all genuine Indian citizens. Only Assam has an NRC in the country, prepared on the basis of the 1951 census. It is being updated under the supervision of the apex court, which has set July deadline for publication of the final NRC. The update began in 2014.

“Amit Shah’s statement is highly irresponsible and amounts to defying the authority of the apex court. The court should take suo motu action against him,” PCC president Ripun Bora said.

“The Supreme Court has been monitoring the NRC update. It has set a time-bound action plan. Despite that, Shah has dared to say that the BJP would update the NRC only after passing the citizenship bill. This is also an insult to the people of Assam,” he said.

“We once again warn the BJP that at no cost will you be allowed to bring the citizenship bill. We will undertake mass movements across the country against any move to pass the bill,” Bora added.

AASU general secretary Lurinjyoti Gogoi said the BJP should have displayed its sincerity by upgrading the NRC in Assam before talking of implementing it in the country. “The Supreme Court had to reprimand the Centre for not showing sincerity to update the NRC in Assam. And passing the bill is an old agenda of the BJP,” he said.

The AASU, Nagaland governor P.B. Acharya, Assam governor Jagdish Mukhi and former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta have demanded a pan-India NRC to know the exact number of Indian citizens, which would help development and security.

“Those not figuring in the updated NRC in Assam cannot take shelter in other states,” Lurinjyoti had said.