Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on Tuesday, 24 December, spoke to news agency ANI regarding Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), the latter having been approved by Union Cabinet on Tuesday itself.
The Home Minister, while speaking to ANI, said that NRC and NPR are not related to each other at all.
Further, Shah said that the detention centres under construction are being made as a ‘continuous process’.
He said that the centres are for those who are living in the country without permission, such as, without a visa.
“If someone is living in the country illegally, without a visa or proper proof, they will be put in the detention centre, from where their deportation process can commence,” Shah said.
On Nationwide NRC
Further, Shah asserted that there is no need to debate nation-wide NRC. “PM Modi was right, there is no discussion on it yet, either in the Cabinet or Parliament," he said.
While speaking about the newly announced legislation, Shah said that the NPR is related to Census, an exercise repeated every 10 years, and for which people just need to provide information about their household, if they so wish.
Further, he clarified that NPR is not related to anyone’s citizenship but just to maintain a register of citizens, like Census.
He said that NPR is needed so that the government can reach the poor with its schemes and benefits.
"Those opposing NPR are going against the poor, minorities," he said. "I urge West Bengal and Kerala CM to not play politics over something that will benefit the poor in their states."
“If we don’t know everything about families across the country with NPR, we won’t be able to provide benefits to them. That is why, we will do NPR with 2020 Census.”Amit Shah, Union Home Minister
‘Political Parties Playing Unnecessary Politics’
The Home Minister maintained his stance of the NPR and NRC not being linked to each other. He blamed political parties of playing unnecessary politics. "It is because some opposition parties don’t want such benefits to reach the poor, they are opposing these schemes."
When asked about the timing of the announcement of NPR, Shah said that the urgency amid all the protests against CAA is because the government plans to map people's houses for Census by April 2020.
“Going by this, December 2019 is anyways delayed, there was no urgency.”Amit Shah, Union Home Minister
On CAA
Further, he said that there shouldn't be any revolt over CAA. "It (CAA) is about giving citizenship, not taking it away," he said.
Amit Shah also said that he thinks since people’s fear over CAA is receding, political parties are now creating fear over NPR.
Further, the home minister also denied the repeated incidence of violence pertaining to CAA across the country.
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