CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat on Thursday called upon the Chief Ministers of various States not to allow enumeration for the National Population Register (NPR), saying that alone will prevent the implementation of the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Referring to the announcements from Chief Ministers of 12 States, including those whose party MPs had voted in favour of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, that they will not implement NRC, Mr. Karat said that was not enough.
Addressing a meeting organised by Tamilaga Makkal Ottrumai Medai, he said the Chief Ministers should do what had already been done by the leaders of Kerala and West Bengal.
He said Kerala had already issued a notification for suspending enumeration in view of widespread protests.
“Though it is a Central Act, the enumeration should be done by State government employees. The State government should say it will not provide the officers and personnel needed for enumeration. If you do that, they cannot proceed with NRC. There would be no NRC without NPR,” Mr. Karat contended.
‘RSS agenda’
He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had planned a trishul attack against the Constitution and was trying to facilitate the long-term agenda of the RSS and the BJP to create a Hindu Rashtra.
“The first prong (of the trishul) is CAA; the second prong is NPR and the third is NRC. All three are inter-connected,” he added.
Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram warned the people not to fall prey to the BJP government’s design on CAA.
Recalling the German poem, “First they came for…”, Mr. Chidambaram said “history repeats itself”, and what happened in Germany was “almost happening” in India.
He said in the fortnight since CAA was enacted, the country had witnessed a “revolution” by students, cutting across caste, religion and even nationalities.
Attack on AIADMK
DMK Member of Parliament Kanimozhi alleged that the AIADMK had betrayed the minorities and the Sri Lankan Tamils by voting in favour of the CAB in the Rajya Sabha.
She said Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah’s attempt to issue a clarification that NPR had nothing to do with NRC was a victory for the people’s protests.
