CPI (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has expressed concern over the BJP-led Central government’s efforts for preparing the National Register of Citizens, which was the first step towards the enumeration of people under the National Population Register.
The NPR Act was brought out by the then BJP government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee in 2003 for establishing residential status of the people and not citizenship. The present government, however, has incorporated a provision allowing the local registrar to decide whether the claim of the citizen is genuine or doubtful.
“This is nothing but inversion of principles of jurisprudence. I am a citizen till proved otherwise by the government. But the new provision will put the burden of submitting proof on the people, which will impose hardship on vulnerable sections and can give scope for discrimination,” he said.
Mr. Yechury said the entire exercise was aimed at communal polarisation, as could be seen from the modalities being adopted in the process. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi claims that there is no discussion on NRC in the past. But written replies were given in Parliament since 2014 explaining the intent of the government. This is on record in Parliament. I don’t think the Prime Minister is unaware of this,” he said.
The senior CPI(M) leader expressed concern over the comments made by Army Chief Bipin Rawat on the ongoing protests and advised the government to understand the implications of the development. “Army Chief has no connection with domestic politics. For the first time, there appears to be politicisation of armed forces. This is dangerous,” he said.
He alleged that the protests organised by the people against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the NRC and the NPR were turning violent because of the police. Protest was a fundamental right of the people, but they were being prohibited from doing so. This, he said, was an organised effort against protests encouraged by the government.
Citing the protests staged by students of institutions of higher learning like the IITs, IIMs, IISc and others, he said these youth were fighting for secularism and to save the Constitution. Efforts were on to forge unity among the forces that were opposing the government’s moves.
