P Chidambaram Hits Out at BJP Government Over NPR-NRC and CAA, Says 'These Are Two Sides of Same Coin'

New Delhi, January 4: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday lashed out at the Narendra Modi government over National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Chidambaram also clarified that the Congress is not provoking anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) protests. Speaking to news agency ANI, the senior Congress leader termed, NPR, NRC and CAA as two sides of the same coin. Amit Shah Interview: NRC, NPR Not Connected, PM Narendra Modi Was Right in Saying Pan-India National Register of Citizens Not Being Discussed.

Chidambaram said that NPR introduced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is clearly linked to NRC. He also clarified that the NPR conducted in 2010 when the Congress was in power was different from the NPR proposed by the current BJP government. He said, “NPR is clearly linked to NRC. Why did Home Minister not say we are doing NPR, we will not do NRC? Let them say categorically that NRC is ruled out. We only did NPR, it aided the census. We stopped with the census.”

Chidambaram's Statement:

Chidambaram taking a dig at the BJP over the Assam NRC stated, “They (BJP) must also say we are not doing NRC because we have bitter experience of Assam NRC. When we did NPR 2010, there was no Assam NRC. We did not have bitter experience of more than 19 lakh people being declared stateless.” He also asked the Centre to first decide the fate of 19 lakh people who were detained after the NRC was implemented in Assam, before bringing it in entire country. Why Citizenship Amendment Act+NRC Raise Fear And Concerns: A Multi-Dimensional Take.

The senior Congress leader also raised questions on the BJP for accusing Congress of proving the anti-CAA protests. “We're staging anti-CAA protests and we're proud of it. Why're they calling us provocateurs? We're propagating our point of view and if students, youth, women are supporting our point of view and coming out on streets what's wrong with it,” Chidambaram quoting as saying by ANI.

Clarifying further about the NPR conducted by the congress, Chidambaram said that the content of the NPR they did was different from that of the BJP. He added that there were only 15 questions asked by his party, but the BJP added six more question. Chidambaram hit out at the saffron Party for asking about people’s last place of residence, place of birth of your father and mother, driver’s licence number, voter ID and Aadhar.

Earlier in December last year, Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the NRC and the NPR were two different things. He had stated, “There is no link between National Register of Citizens and National Population Register, I am clearly stating this today.” The Union cabinet approved the NPR last month. As per the proposal, the exercise to update NPR would be held between April and September 2020 in all states and Union Territories.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 04, 2020 06:41 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).