MUMBAI: Union minister Smriti Irani has said that a distinction has to be made between refugees and illegal immigrants. She was speaking on the row regarding the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship (Amendment) bill in Assam at the Young Thinkers’ conference in the city organised by British Deputy High Commission in association with the Observer Research Foundation.

She said, “We have to make a distinction bet-ween refugees and illegal immigrants. That is where a lot of angst can be addressed. You have somebody who has been given a particular status because the government recognises their political, social compulsions to come over and seek refuge in your country.”

She added, “When so-mebody infiltrates your border, and gets into many schemes just by virtue of breaking the law that is something th-at has to be looked into in a different context.”

The issue flared a few months ago when the draft published by NRC said that 40 lakh people lacked valid papers that could qua-lify them as being ‘citizens of India’.