NEW DELHI: The PM’s recent Ramlila Maidan speech where he had said that no work had started on an all-India NRC process was seen as contradicting home minister Amit Shah’s statement in Lok Sabha on December 9 declaring the intent to prepare the NRC. On the protests against CAA, Amit Shah told ANI in an interview, “It does not deprive anyone of citizenship. It is intended to give citizenship to a certain class of people. Please let someone explain to me how it takes away anyone’s citizenship.“NPR is a register of population. People who are usually residents of India. This helps in framing schemes. But in NRC, every individual is asked for proof as to on what basis are you citizens. There is no connection nor can one have a role in the other. NPR process cannot be used for NRC. They are different laws.”He accused the opposition of trying to rake up a controversy over NPR as efforts to mislead public opinion on the CAA were not working. “People have begun to understand what CAA is really about. In Assam , where a number of people might benefit, there could be some concerns but comparatively nothing much is happening there. Why in other areas?” he asked.Opposition parties questioned Shah’s de-linking of NPR and NRC by pointing to the reply former minister of state Kiren Rijiju had given in Parliament. “Government has now decided to create the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) based on the information collected under the scheme of NPR by verifying the citizenship status of all individuals in the country,” Rijiju had said. However, sources in the government explained that the distinction Shah and other ministers sought to draw on Tuesday was that the rules and process for a countrywide NRC was completely different. The NRC will be a graded process beginning with a local register, then district-wise and finally state-wise. It was also pointed out that the Census of India document dating back to UPA years in 2011 stated that NPR was the first step towards preparation of NRC. “Out of universal data set of residents, the subset of citizens, would be derived after due verification of the citizenship status,” it said.Modi’s remarks on Sunday had seen the opposition claim a contradiction with Shah’s statements on earlier occasions. However, sources said Shah’s statement, as part of a reply during the debate on CAA, was meant to be a declaration of intent and that there was indeed no proposal or draft under consideration.Shah said no citizen should have any apprehension regarding NPR, for which the cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs 3,941 crore , as NPR data was the basis for formulation of various government schemes. “The minorities should not worry as there is no plan to use NPR to prepare NRC... No document will be sought during the NPR exercise. As for Aadhaar details, what is the problem in furnishing the same?” he asked.He also appealed to chief ministers of West Bengal and Kerala, who have announced that they will put NPR on hold, to not block the exercise. “Don’t keep the poor from benefiting from development programmes and schemes. This has no link to NRC,” he said, adding that he would talk to the states in this regard. As per Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, nationwide NRC shall be divided into sub-parts like State Register of Indian Citizens, the District Register of Indian Citizens, the Sub-district Register of Indian Citizens and the Local Register of Indian Citizens.The central government may, by an order, decide a date by which the population register shall be prepared. The local register of Indian citizens shall contain details of persons after due verification made from the population register. This shall be submitted to the District Registrar of Citizen Registration and then transferred to the NRC.