Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that all states including Kerala have been asked to collect data relating to Rohingyas as they have moved to different parts of the country.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has issued a warning to its units in Kerala and Tamil Nadu in this regard, along with a list of 14 trains on which the refugees from Myanmar are likely to be moving to the state with their families.

Rajnath Singh had earlier said all Rohingyas in India were illegal immigrants as none of them had applied for asylum as refugees. The home ministry has clarified its position through its affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that these people are illegal immigrants and they will be deported. Singh said that they did not follow the required procedure to gain refugee status. Rohingyas have not applied for it and India will not provide shelter, Singh said.

The minister also appealed to all the political parties not to make the issue of national security, a political issue. The presence of Rohingya is confined not only to the north-eastern states. They have reached south Indian states including Kerala, he said during BJP's Kerala state council meet.

The Centre has directed the states to be cautious. The states have been directed to observe their movements. "They should not get documents that could help them prove they are Indian citizens," the minister said.

Singh said the issue would be taken up with the Government of Myanmar through diplomatic channels after securing complete details from the states.

Addressing a seminar organised by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recently, Singh wondered why some people were objecting to the deportation of Rohingyas when Myanmar was ready to take them back.

Hundreds of them have been killed in the northern Rakhine province of Myanmar by the military, setting off an exodus with lakhs taking shelter camps in Bangladesh. Many of them are also living in India.