Rahul calls NPR-NRC ‘tax’ on the poor, party fires broadside at Centre
The Centre and States are headed for a major confrontation on the implementation of the National Population Register (NPR). After Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal and Left-led Kerala Governments refused to implement the NPR approved by the Union Cabinet last week, the Congress- ruled States too are set to reject it in its existing format.
Launching a fresh offensive against the Modi Government, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi likened the NPR and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) to demonetisation, and said these exercises are a “tax” on the poor, who will suffer the same way they did after the note ban in November 2016.
A senior Congress leader told The Pioneer that the party-led State Governments would not implement the NPR since it seeks to extract details similar to the NRC. The Congress leadership has questioned the very motive of the Government to seek details like declaration of “date and place of birth of both parents” for the first time in the NPR forms. Sources said party has asked its Chief Ministers to reject the NPR.
The Congress Governments in States have already criticised the controversial CAA and NRC that led to mass mobilisation and protests across the country during the last fortnight.
A formal announcement is likely to be made when the party conducts flag marches across the country for its “Save India, Save Constitution” on Saturday coinciding with the grand old party’s foundation day. Then Minister of State for Home in the UPA Government Ajay Maken on Friday charged the Centre with working on the NRC across the country in the garb of the NPR.
Home Minister Amit Shah has clarified that there is no link between the NPR and the NRC. “NPR is register of population, NRC is register of citizens. There is no link between the two and the two have different processes,” Shah said in an interview with a news agency early this week.
Maken sought to buttress the point by citing that the NPR forms are seeking information like mobile numbers of all family members and driving licence details which had not been sought when the NPR was last conducted in the 2010-11 by the UPA Government.
Maken also rejected the Government’s contention that these details were to be shared voluntarily and not mandatorily. “The NPR forms have an ambiguous ‘if available’ clause. Anybody who does not share these details would run the risk of his citizenship being deemed doubtful,” Maken explained to The Pioneer.
Asserting that the NRC has always been on the BJP’s agenda, Maken pointed out that way back in 2003 when the NDA was in power it had brought out an amendment in the Citizenship Act seeking to make registration of every citizen compulsory.
“When the Congress came to power in 2004, there was a pilot project carried out in a union territory with a small population of 3.1 million. We junked it, though the BJP had sought to implement it across the country, as it was found that less than half of the residents could produce valid documents. Most of them were poor who had no means to be in possession of documentary proof of citizenship,” the Congress leader pointed out.
In the last NPR, data was collected on 15 criteria. This time data on 21 points will be collected.
These include last place of residence, passport number, Aadhaar ID, Voter ID card number, driving licence number and mobile phone number.
“In this NPR, a person like me might have a problem. If a person like me is asked where your father and mother were born; my parents were born in Pakistan. Where will I get their details,” Maken said at a press conference at AICC.
“Then there is another provision that infringes upon our right to privacy. They ask, ‘if available’, provide Aadhaar number, mobile number, voter id number, driving licence number. What is the need for licence number, Aadhaar number and my phone number in (proving) usual residence,” he added.
“Many BJP leaders are saying that people would be asked to provide these details ‘voluntarily’. I would like to draw your attention, it is written ‘if available’. So if you say no, it means you don’t have your Aadhaar number. Can I say I don’t have my mobile number? Nowhere, it is written that it is voluntary. So those who don’t give these details will be marked, and they would be omitted from the NRC which will be prepared on NPR’s basis.
Questioning the Government motive, Rahul said, “Whether NPR or NRC, it is a tax on poor people of the country. You understand demonetisation. It was a tax on poor people. Go to banks and give your money but do not withdraw money from your account. Entire money went to the pocket of 15-20 rich people. This (NPR or NRC) is the same thing.”
Rahul’s remark that the NPR and the NRC are a tax on the poor drew a sharp retort from the BJP with Union Minister Prakash Javadekar saying they have “embarrassed” people and his Congress party.
Javadekar said the NPR does not involve any monetary transaction and its data is used to identify the poor so that Government welfare schemes could reach the targeted people. A similar exercise was undertaken in 2010 by UPA Government, he added.