Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said he would not fill any form to enrol in the National Population Register, saying the BJP “will not decide if we are citizens or not”.
“I am a citizen of India. We all are. No BJP person will decide if we are citizens or not. And if the need arises, we will not fill any form,” Mr. Yadav said addressing student leaders of his party at the Samajwadi Party headquarters.
“How will you make us fill the form? And if required, I will be the first person not to fill any form,” the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said.
Gandhiji’s strategy
Referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s disobedience in South Africa, Mr. Yadav asked his party persons to use a similar strategy of non-cooperation.
“The question is will you support me or not?
If we don’t fill, you and I will all be thrown out. I won’t fill NPR. What will you [government] do,” Mr. Yadav asked.
He appealed to the youth and the people of the country to “save India” from those people who are “tearing the Constitution into shreds”.
“Tell me, youngsters, you want NPR or rozgar [employment],” Mr. Yadav asked.
According to the State police, 19 persons have died, most of them through gunshot wounds, in Uttar Pradesh during protests over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Except for the death of one protester in Bijnor, the police had distanced themselves from the other deaths, saying they did not fire at the crowds.
Referring to those incidents, Mr. Yadav said the BJP government and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath were solely responsible for the “injustice, you can see, the people who are getting killed by police bullets.”
“This injustice is taking place because the CM wants to save his seat,” Mr. Yadav said.
