Shah in damage control mode, says there is no link between NPR-NRC

“Today there is no need to debate this (Pan Indian NRC) as there is no discussion on it right now. The Prime Minister was right. There is no discussion on it yet either in the Cabinet or Parliament,” he said backing Modi on his statement at a Delhi rally on Sunday that his government has not discussed NRC after coming to power in 2014 except for implementing NRC in Assam.

However, the statements of the two top BJP leaders are in contrast to statements by Shah himself in Parliament during the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act and during the general elections and other party leaders that NRC will be brought in the country.

Modi’s statement was seen as a tactical retreat by the government in the wake of countrywide protests on the CAA. The Opposition attacked the Prime Minister and the government saying they were obfuscating on the issue and not declaring that there will be no NRC.

On the Cabinet decision today clearing sanctioning Rs. 3,941 crore for updating the NPR and the opposition fears that NRC was sought to be brought by the “backdoor”, the Home Minister said “there is a fundamental difference between NPR and NRC. NPR is a population register of people living in India for formulation of welfare schemes, while for NRC proof will demanded for the basis on which you want to become a citizen of the country.”

Dismissing another apprehension expressed by some people, he said data collected for the two surveys will not be used in each other.

He was replying to a question on a series of statements made by ministers, including from the first term of Modi, that data base from NPR would be used in the NRC.

On the other statement of Modi on Sunday that there were no detention centres in the regard to which people would be sent in the wake of passage of CAA, Shah said detention centres have been there in the country for many years.

“They have not been built by the Modi government. These centres are only meant for illegal immigrants,” he said.

Meanwhile, a PTI report stated that the Congress on Tuesday sought to corner the government on the issue of the National Population Register, claiming the annual report of the Home Ministry has said that the NPR is a first step to the National Register of Citizens.

The Congress said the government cited the Home Ministry’s reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha stating the same and alleged that the BJP government is now caught in a trap of its own making.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Sunday made it clear that there is no talk of NRC being implemented in the country, a stand that goes in total variance with Home Minister Amit Shah’s claim that the NRC will be implemented.

“Once again the BJP government is caught in a trap of their own making. 2018-19 Annual Report of the Union Home Ministry clearly states NPR is first step to NRC. Also in 2014, former MoS Home Ministry Kiren Rijiju replied to a question in Rajya Sabha, stating the same. Who’s lying now,” the Congress asked on its Twitter handle.

Asked at the AICC briefing, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said he would first see the proposal on the National Population Register before commenting on the issue.