Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy has said that the present National Population Register (NPR) was part of 2021 Census enumeration with a few changes, and was in no way linked with the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Mr. Reddy said the claims of Opposition parties that NPR was a precursor to NCR were baseless and misleading. “I condemn the misinformation campaign of the Opposition parties and a section of the media on the issue,” he said.
Interestingly, this response is being seen as counter to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi’s meeting with Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao requesting him to stay the work on NPR in Telangana. Mr. Reddy reiterated that the NPR exercise was started by the previous UPA government in 2010 and the present government has only added a few columns seeking the birth place of the parents being enlisted, Aadhaar card number and the previous place of residence. “These are basic requirements for NPR,” he said.
In a statement released here, Mr. Reddy charged the opposition parties with playing “mind games” to vitiate people’s faith in the government and derail the government’s plans for nation’s welfare agenda, alleviation of poverty and grounding of welfare schemes.
“How can the government plan its policies without authentic and comprehensive data?” he asked and appealed to the people not to fall for the ‘propaganda of neo-Goebels’ who are the enemies of the poor.
