NPR is prelude to NRC, chief ministers must be cautious: CPI-M

The National Population Register (NPR) is prelude to the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the chief ministers who are opposed to the NRC must not conduct the NPR exercise in their states, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said on Tuesday.

The government on Tuesday announced that the NPR would be updated between April 2020 to September 2020. The officials would go door to door to collect the information along with the Census.

“The NPR exercise will require people to declare date and place of birth of parents along with furnishing data on 21 additional points. Most of the data being collected now was not collected in the last NPR exercise in 2010,” the CPI-M said in a statement.

By the amendment of the Citizenship Act of 1955 and the rules notified on December 10, 2003 by the Vajpayee government, the National Population Register is the basis on which the National Register of Citizens is prepared. It is clear that the NPR is the first stage of the exercise to implement the NRC, it said.

The party pointed out that this linkage was made clear as early as July 23, 2014, soon after the Modi government assumed office, in an answer to a question (Starred question No. 229, Rajya Sabha) by the Minister of State for Home Affairs.

The written answer states: “The 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.”

The CPI-M warned: “Notwithstanding the untruths of PM Modi, it is abundantly clear that the NPR will lay the foundation for the NRC.”

“At least 12 Chief Ministers have announced that the NRC will not be implemented in their states. The Chief Ministers of Kerala and West Bengal have decided not to proceed on the NPR as well. The CPI-M appeals to all the Chief Ministers who have opposed the NRC to ensure that the NPR exercise is abandoned in their states,” it stated.