Senior AAP leader and Delhi Minister Gopal Rai. (Express Photo: Prem Nath Pandey) Senior AAP leader and Delhi Minister Gopal Rai. (Express Photo: Prem Nath Pandey)

Asserting that the majority in the country will be the biggest sufferers if the National Population Register is implemented, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Cabinet Minister Gopal Rai moved a resolution against the NPR in Delhi Assembly on Friday.

Rai said irrespective of whatever assurances the Home Minister has been giving, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will naturally follow NPR as the 2003 rules say so.

“The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had amended the citizenship law as per which it was decided NPR data will be collated with it. This will be followed by verification. Suspicious data will be categorised as doubtful. Home Minister Shah said NPR will not have any segment on ‘D category’. Shah also said the government has been merely following the 2003 rules. And the rules also say that NRC data will be based on NPR.”

Asking on what basis the Home Minister was saying that the NRC won’t be carried out, he asked, “Have the 2003 rules been amended? If not, NRC will naturally follow NPR. Each and every individual is tensed over these issues.”

Explained | Why NPR isn’t NRC, and yet…

Referring to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise in Assam where 19 lakh people including both Hindus and Muslims were excluded from the list, Rai said the NRC and NPR have nothing to do with religion.

Lashing out at the central ministry for conflicting statements on NPR-NRC-CAA, he said, “There are a lot of questions regarding NPR, NRC in the minds of people… because the PM, HM and the Home Ministry have issued different statements on these issues.

Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said no document will be asked for in NPR exercise. (Photo: Screengrab @ Rajya Sabha TV) Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said no document will be asked for in NPR exercise. (Photo: Screengrab @ Rajya Sabha TV)

“Yesterday, Home Minister Amit Shah told the Parliament that NPR has no link with NRC so people need not worry. Previously, he used to explain the chronology,” he said.

Tabling the resolution, he said the NPR updation should be stalled in Delhi. “And if the Centre insists, the process should be carried out in accordance with the 2010 format,” he added.

Comparison between NPR data collection format of 2010 and 2020. Comparison between NPR data collection format of 2010 and 2020.

Kalkaji MLA Atishi too said the NPR-NRC issue has left the country in fear. “Around 80-90 per cent people of this country won’t have the necessary documents to establish their identity. And parents, in most cases, won’t even have birth certificates,” she said reminding that a lot of the childbirths take place outside hospitals even today.

Explained | What NRC+CAA means to you

Accusing the central government of lying, Atishi said, “The Union government claims that NPR is being carried out under the Census framework. Census is carried out under the law enacted in 1948. Census data is not to be revealed in the public domain. Census law does not have any reference to NPR at all. NPR comes under the Citizenship Act 1955, amended in 2003.”

Claiming that attempts were being made to bring NRC through the backdoor, she said, “We want NPR to be stalled not just in Delhi, bit across the country.”

Rajinder Nagar MLA Raghav Chadha too voiced concerns about the sufferings of the majority due to the NPR exercise and said, “Hindus are being told that they do not need to worry. But actually, Hindus will be the worst sufferers.” Claiming that the central government has already started building detention centres, he said, “Each and every individual, not having required IDs, should look at the pictures (of the detention centres) because eventually, everyone will land up in those camps.”

The questions that have been raised in the resolution submitted in the Delhi Assembly today are:

1. Will NPR data feed into NRC?

2. When will NRC be started?

3. What documents will be accepted as conclusive proof of citizenship?

4. If a bona fide citizen is not in possession of any of these documents, how does he/she obtain them now?

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