Chidambaram calls the Government’s bluff on NPR 2010

National Population Register, 2010 was conducted in a few states and not all, and at a time when there was no controversy about NRC and without the unhappy experience of the Assam NRC, pointed out former Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday. There was no CAA looming large either, he added.

What’s more, NPR 2010 gathered data in respect of only 15 fields. On the contrary, NPR 2020 will be conducted all over the country; it will be done in the background of the disastrous experience of the Assam NRC and the discriminatory CAA; and the form that will be used in NPR 2020 will have many additional fileds—all mischievous and irrelevant to a Census, the former union minister pointed out.

NPR 2020, he said, will ask for information on the last place of residence, the place of birth of the parents, voter identity, passport number, driver’s licence, PAN and Aadhaar.

“Who added these additional fields and why? In terms of text and context, NPR 2010 and NPR 2020 are very different. NPR 2020 with the additional fields is a disguised attempt to do an Assam NRC-like exercise throughout the country and, therefore, it must be stoutly opposed.

Debunking the Government’s propaganda on the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, the former Home Minister underlined that the CAA sets 31st December 2014 as the cut-off date.

“It concerns persons who had already come into India and not those who will come hereafter…The CAA identifies three countries — Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It also identifies six religious groups— Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians. The Act says that if a person is from one of the three countries and professes one of the six religions, and if he had entered India illegally before 31st December 2014, he would not be considered an ‘illegal migrant’ and he would be granted citizenship of India,” he recalled.

Describing the CAA as patently discriminatory, he pointedly asked,

• While three neighbouring countries have been included, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Bhutan have been excluded. Why?
• While six religious groups have been included, Muslims have been excluded. Why?
• The most persecuted minorities in South Asia are the Tamils of Sri Lanka (both Hindu and Muslim); the Rohingyas of Myanmar; the Ahmadiyyas, Shias, Balochis and Sindhis of Pakistan; the Christians of Bhutan; and the Hazaras of Afghanistan. All these groups have been excluded. Why?
• The absurd provisions of the CAA can be illustrated by two examples. While Hindus will be allowed, Sri Lankan Hindus (mostly Tamil) will not be allowed. While Christians will be allowed, Christians from Bhutan will not be allowed. Why?

The former Union minister also questioned the Government’s statements in Parliament on rolling out a National Register of Indian Citizens and denying any such plan outside the Parliament.

Describing the NRIC as a sinister and mischievous plan to divide India, Chidambaram said that under NRC, every person residing in India will have to prove that he is a citizen of India.

“In modern, liberal democracies, if the State suspects that a person is not a citizen, the burden of proving that the person is not a citizen lies on the State. On the contrary, under NRC, the burden of proving that he is a citizen falls upon the person concerned. This is contrary to the basic tenets of a democracy,” he added.

As a result of the implementation of both NRC and CAA, the persons who will be directly affected will be the Muslims of India.

All other religious groups, even if excluded under NRC, will be included under CAA. Only the Muslims will be identified as illegal migrants under NRC and excluded under CAA, he explained saying, “Naturally, there is widespread fear and uncertainty among the Muslims of India.”