Delhi resolution calls for withdrawal of NPR, NRC
NEW DELHI: The Capital’s legislative assembly passed a resolution against the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) on Friday, with chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying the majority community of Hindus would suffer the most because of a lack of documents.
The resolution, which urged the central government to stick to the 2010 NPR format if it went ahead with the process, was passed with a voice vote in the 70-member assembly in a special one-day session.
It came a day after Union home minister Amit Shah told Parliament that no documents would be required in the NPR, which is a biometric database of “usual” Indian residents, and that the process would be voluntary.
“I don’t have proof of birth. My wife and my parents don’t possess it either. Only my kids have. My entire Cabinet doesn’t have proof of birth. Will the entire Cabinet be sent to detention centres?” chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asked in the assembly.
The resolution did not clearly state that the Delhi government would not implement the NPR.
It urged the Central government to withdraw and not carry out the NPR and NRC, “particularly when the economy is witnessing the worst-ever downslide and unemployment is witnessing a terrifying growth, and with the threat of the corona pandemic looming large”.
“And, if the Centre insists, the process should be carried out in accordance with the 2010 format, with no new fields added to it,” said Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi cabinet minister Gopal Rai, who moved the resolution in the assembly. Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party opposed the resolution.
States such as Bihar and Maharashtra have passed resolutions asking the Centre to revert to the 2010 National Population Register (NPR) format, which contained eight fewer fields than the 2020 one, including controversial questions on birth parents and date of birth.
Delhi became the 11th assembly to pass a resolution against the NRC, which is aimed at detecting illegal immigrants, and the National Population Register (NPR).
Three Opposition-ruled states of Kerala, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh have decided to suspend the NPR. The central government has repeatedly clarified that it had no immediate plans to hold a nationwide NRC, which has only been completed in Assam.
In Delhi, the NPR exercise is supposed to begin on April 1 in the area under the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) with the house-listing phase of Census 2021. The data for NPR was last collected in 2010 along with the house-listing phase of Census 2011.
Speaking in the House, Kejriwal asserted that the NPR, NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which proposes to fast-track the process of citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan who entered India before December 31, 2014, were linked. He read out quotes of Union home minister Amit Shah, President Ram Nath Kovind and other central government functionaries and said that the “chronology should be understood”.
“First the CAA was passed, now it is the NPR and finally the NRC will be brought,” Kejriwal said.
The chief minister said Shah told Parliament that no documents will be needed in the NPR process, but never said that the documents will not be required in the NRC process.
He further challenged all the Union ministers to show their birth certificates issued by the government.
In the assembly, Kejriwal asked members to raise their hands if they had birth certificates, following which only nine did so.
“Sixty-one of the 70 members of the House do not have birth certificates,” he said. “Will they be sent to detention centres?”
The chief minister said it was a “myth” that the NPR and NRC would affect only Muslims.
“In Assam, where the NRC was done, 19 lakh people could not make it to the list and were sent to detention centres. Out of the 19 lakh, 14 lakh were Hindus and only five lakh were Muslims.
In Delhi there are 40 lakh Purvanchalis [people from the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar], will they be thrown in camps if they are unable to produce the birth certificates issued by the municipal corporations?” he said.