NRC Will Not be Implemented in Bihar, Says CM Nitish Kumar
The latest news comes days after election strategist Prashant Kishor, also the vice-president of BJP ally and JD(U), claimed that the Bihar CM is not in favour of the NRC exercise that has been proposed by the Centre.
Patna, December 20: Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) Chief Nitish Kumar on Friday announced that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be implemented in his state, Bihar. The latest news comes days after election strategist Prashant Kishor, also the vice-president of BJP ally and JD(U), claimed that the Bihar CM is not in favour of the NRC exercise that has been proposed by the Centre. Kishor after meeting Bihar CM in Patna had said that the party was not in favour of NRC. "There is no problem per se with Citizenship Amendment Act, but it becomes discriminatory when combined with NRC", Kishor had said.
The proposed nationwide NRC, which is a proposal so far, if implemented will target illegal immigrants in India. The NRC, will thus be an official record of only the legal Indian citizens. As of now, the NRC is just limited to the northeastern state of Assam, while the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is a nationwide Act.
Earlier this week, posters declaring that the Bihar CM has gone "missing" and criticising him for his "silence" on the amended Citizenship Act were found in various localities of Patna. As tension over the CAA engulfed Bihar, posters saying, 'Deaf, dumb and blind Chief Minister' below which there is a photograph of Nitish Kumar and then it is written 'Missing, missing, missing', were seen at various locations. It must be noted that the chief minister had been on a state-wide "Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Yatra".
As the posters surfaced, the RJD has sharpened its attack on the JD(U) chief and said, 'The silence of Nitish Kumar is dangerous for Bihar. He is still trying to find excuses'. The posters targeted Kumar for his "silence" on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was passed by Parliament with his JD(U) voting in favour of it, and on the National Register for Citizens (NRC), which he has been opposed to in principle.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 20, 2019 03:40 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).