Delhi Assembly passes resolution against NPR, NRC

Delhi Assembly on Friday passed a resolution asking the Centre to withdraw the "whole exercise" of National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Delhi has joined a host of states, including Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Puducherry, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, which have raised opposition or concerns about Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), NRC or the NPR.

In the resolution adopted at a special one-day session, the Assembly "earnestly" appealed to the Centre to withdraw and not carry out the whole exercise of NRC and NPR "in the interest of the nation, particularly when the economy is witnessing the worst-ever downslide and unemployment is witnessing a terrifying growth, and with the threat of the corona pandemic looming large".

If the Centre "insist on going ahead" with it, the resolution said it should be restricted to carrying out the NPR only with its 2010 format and no new fields added to it.

Addressing the session after Delhi Minister Gopal Rai moved the resolution against the NPR, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the Centre is diverting the people from the real issues in the country such as unemployment and economic crisis by conducting the NPR/NRC exercise.

"I will request the Central government to not bring the NPR and NRC because it will be of no good to our country," he said.

He said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had told the Parliament that no documents will be needed in the NPR process which will start from April 1, but he never mentioned that the documents will not be required in the case of the NRC process.

"Me, my wife, and my parents, we do not possess the birth certificate issued by the municipality. I want to know that in such a situation, will the Centre send the four family members, including the Delhi Chief Minister to detention camp? None of the Delhi Cabinet ministers have the birth certificates, will the whole Cabinet be sent to the detention center? In the house with 70 MLAs, 61 out of them do not have the birth certificate," he said.

With the NPR being implemented from next month, he said not only Muslims but also Hindus who do not have birth certificates issued by a government agency will be affected.

"If you are a Muslim and do not have documents, you will be sent to a detention centre. If you are a Hindu from Pakistan, you will be given citizenship. But if you are an Indian Hindu and do not have documents, you will still be sent to a detention centre," he said.