NEW DELHI: India will publish Saturday a controversial citizens list that advocates say will help rectify decades of unchecked illegal immigration into the northeastern state of Assam. Critics fear it will leave millions of people stateless. The Hindu nationalist-led government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi backs the project, and has vowed to roll it out nationwide.

Some view the National Register of Citizens as an attempt to deport millions of India's minority Muslim population. But activists who have been fighting for such a list for decades say that it's simply to protect Assam's indigenous people, whether Hindu, Muslim or tribal.

The draft version of the register released in June left off about 4.1 million of the state's 32 million residents, leading some to flee and others to suicide.

Retired Indian Army officer Mohammad Sanaullah, 53, who was declared an illegal immigrant and detained, leaves his residence in Gauhati, India on August 28, 2019. Photo: AP