New Delhi: In the aftermath of the Delhi riots last month and as the coronavirus pandemic rages on, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday passed a resolution in the Delhi Assembly against the implementation of the National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). The resolution was opposed by the BJP.
With this, Delhi becomes the 11th state/Union Territory to have passed a resolution against the NPR and the NRC. The others are Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Punjab, Bihar and Puducherry.
The resolution, moved by Gopal Rai, said the House "earnestly appeals to the government of India that in the interest of the nation, particularly when the economy is witnessing the worst ever downslide and unemployment is witnessing terrifying growth and with the threat of corona pandemic looming large, it invests all its energies and resources on real needs of the people of India rather than unnecessary issues like NPR/NRC. Therefore, we urge upon the government of India to withdraw and not carry out the whole exercise of NPR and NRC, (should the government of India insist on going ahead, to restrict the exercise to NPR only with 2010 format with no new fields added to it)'.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made a strong pitch to the Centre for withdrawing both the NPR and the NRC. He began by saying that the focus of governments should be on fighting the dreaded coronavirus pandemic and reviving the economy. He quoted extensively from the speeches made in Parliament and the statements given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in his interviews to push forth his arguments.
Kejriwal quoted verbatim parts of President Ramnath Kovind's joint address in parliament on June 30 last year where he said: "My government has decided that the NRC will be implemented on priority".
Kejriwal then quoted Shah's statement in Parliament on December 19 last year in which the Home Minister had said: "We are clear on this issue that the NRC will be implemented in this country."
Kejriwal recalled, "The panic now, unlike in 2010 and 2015 when NPR was implemented, is because the home minister has himself explained, 'please try to understand the chronology, first there will be CAA, then there will be NPR and then NRC will be implemented'. The chief minister explained that the panic in the country now is because people have seen what happened in Assam where 19 lakh have been excluded from the final list of the NRC, with several languishing in detention centres.
In the house, Kejriwal argued that the NPR and NRC would impact people of all religions.
"If you show your papers, whether you are a Hindu or a Muslim or belong to any other religion, you will be granted citizenship and if you fail to show papers, and you happen to be a Muslim, you will be sent to detention camps, and if you are a Hindu, you will be asked whether you have come from Pakistan and you reply in the affirmative, your papers will be made, you will not be asked any questions and you will be granted citizenship," he said. "But if you say that you are a Hindu born in Hindustan, your papers will not be made and you will be sent to detention camps. What is the sin committed by the Hindus of India? This law favours the Hindus of Pakistan and is against the Hindus of India."
Quoting from an interview given by Shah to a television channel last December, Kejriwal recalled the Home Minister as saying: "Let me make it clear, in the NRC there will be no action based on religion. In this country, whoever will be found to be not a citizen according to NRC, that person will be set out of the country."
Quoting Shah again, Kejriwal said it is incorrect to assume that NRC is against Muslims only. Referring to Shah's speech in Parliament on February 12 where he had stated that documents will not be required for NPR, Kejriwal said once the exercise is done, it will form the basis for the NRC. Quoting Shah again from an interview that the latter had given to another channel on December 17, Kejriwal said, "The home minister while answering a question said Aaadhar, voter card, cannot be the basis for providing citizenship, there is a different purpose for Aadhaar."
Kejriwal said the only document that will suffice for the purpose of NRC is the birth certificate issued by a government agency, adding that neither he nor his wife and parents have such a document. Kejriwal added that neither do any of the Delhi Cabinet ministers nor does the Speaker have it.
"Will Delhi's chief minister be sent to a detention camp? Will Delhi's entire cabinet be sent to detention camps?" he asked.
Kejriwal then took a count of the numbers of legislators in the Assembly who had birth certificates before pointing out that in a 70-member House, 61 did not have birth certificates to prove that they are citizens. He then asked members of the House about how many of them were prepared to give affidavits that they have come from Pakistan. "Mar jayenge, mit jayenge, kat jayenge, desh ke saath gaddari nahi karenge (we will die, but we will not be traitors to the nation)," he added.
Recalling the painful experience of Assam's brush with the NRC, Kejriwal claimed 19 lakh people have been placed in detention camps, of which 14 lakhs are Hindus and 4 lakh Muslims. "In Delhi, there are 40 lakh Poorvanchalis from UP and Bihar, are they expected to go back to their villages to prepare documents?" he asked.
More than 19 lakh people in Assam were excluded from the final list of the NRC that was released by the government on August 31 last year, while over three 3.11 crore persons were included.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia highlighted the affront to the sense of citizenship and the fear of losing the same, adding that he has always considered himself a patriotic Indian. "When the Census data is recorded and officers visit our homes to note down our names, I feel proud of being a part of India and for being a citizen of the country. I proudly asked officers to record my name, my wife's name and my son's names as well. But now the central government is coming up with the NPR and the condition given here is that you have to prove that you are a citizen of India," he said, adding as an elected MLA and a functioning minister living in a government house, he still feels scared as he does not have the birth certificate demanded by Section 3 of the NPR.
Amanatullah Khan pointed out that during the time of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, passport, Aadhaar and birth certificates were not asked for. He argued that unless the central government makes suitable amendments in the law itself, neither the NPR nor the NRC should be implemented in Delhi.
Shoaib Iqbal drew parallels between the Delhi riots last month and the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Opposing the resolution, Leader of Opposition RS Bidhuri said there is no need to debate this issue, especially after Shah's statement in Parliament where he clarified that documents will not be required during the NPR process and no one will be classified as "doubtful".
The House was briefly adjourned after BJP MLA Vijendra Gupta's statement crated a furore, ' dilli mein aam aadmi party ne dange karwaye'.
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