NPR and NRC two sides of a coin: Owaisi

The National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) are two sides of a coin, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has said. His claim comes a day after Union Minister G Kishan Reddy had clarified that there was no link between the two.

"Home Minister Amit Shah said there is no difference between NPR and NRC. I am telling you that NPR and NRC are two sides of a coin. The rules of NPR and NRC are the same. These rules have been made as per the Citizenship Act, 1955 in which NPR and NRC are there.. if NPR is done in this country, NRC would also be done," Owaisi claimed.

He was addressing a protest meeting at Nizamabad on Friday night as part of his ongoing campaign against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, NRC and NPR. He accused BJP leaders of spreading 'false propaganda' on television channels on the matter.

Referring to some BJP leaders' reported comments that NPR exercise was conducted in 2010 as well by the then UPA government, he claimed that the difference between NPR of 2010 and 2020 was that questions would be asked on the birth place and date of birth of parents. If the NDA government's intention was clear, it would have conducted NPR and NRC first and then brought Citizenship Amendment Act, he said.

"Why did Modi bring Citizen Amendment Act?.. He brought it because now NPR will be done," he said at the protest meeting attended by ruling TRS MLAs, representatives of Left and others. However, opposition Congress had announced that it would not attend the event.

Owaisi along with representatives of United Muslim Action Committee met the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on December 25 and requested him to stay the work on updation of National Population Register (NPR) in Telangana on the lines of Kerala. Owaisi also claimed that KCR was sympathetic towards their demand and said there is a necessity that all like- minded parties should come together on the issue.