NEW DELHI: Prime Minister
Narendra Modi has justified the exercise to prepare National Population Register as a normal “administrative process” that is needed to effectively implement direct benefit transfer and welfare schemes of the government.
Replying to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in the
Rajya Sabha, Modi said, “NPR and Census are normal administrative processes which have been carried out in the past as well. It is due to compulsions of votebank politics that those who brought
NPR in 2010 are now opposing it.”
Enumerating reasons for NPR, the prime minister cited the example of migrants from Odisha settling in Surat and how the data about these people would be needed for opening schools for their children that would impart teaching in their language.
“You (Congress-led UPA) brought NPR. We have your NPR records (data). Why are you lying now? Why are you fooling the people? No citizen has been ostracised due to it,” Modi said.
He asked all Indians to participate in the exercise.
“In the 2011 NPR, biometric data was also collected and photos of crores of citizens was scanned. We updated NPR in 2015 and used it for providing benefits of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and DBT to the right people,” Modi said.
He alleged that
Congress is now opposing it for “cheap politics”.
“We want to update NPR now so that welfare benefits reach the intended beneficiaries. All states had issued the gazette notification for NPR but now some states are opposing it. You had brought NPR, taken it forward and publicised its benefits through the press. Now you have chosen the path of division. This will definitely harm the nation. My request is that you convey the truth to the people,” Modi said.
Modi accused Congress of doublespeak on the issue of giving citizenship to minorities migrating to India from Pakistan and Bangladesh, citing the statements of Mahatma Gandhi,
Jawaharlal Nehru and Lal Bahadur Shastri to emphasise that they were of the same view as that enunciated in the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019.
In his reply to the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in both Houses of Parliament, Modi also asked Congress and other parties to play the role of a constructive opposition and give its valuable suggestions on improving the state of the economy. He referred to Manmohan Singh and said his suggestions would help in this regard.
There had been criticism from the opposition benches that the President’s Address has been largely silent on this issue despite the economic slowdown.
During his speech in the Lok Sabha, the PM lobbed lobbed at the Congress past quotes and letters of Nehru, seeking a law for the protection of persecuted minorities coming from Pakistan, while justifying the contentious
CAA — even as he chose to skip the topic of NRC — and reiterating that the Act won’t affect any Indian citizens.
PM also used the floor of the Parliament to send out a message on the last day of the Delhi election by alleging the whole nation knew “who love getting photographed with the group of people who want ‘tukde tukde’ of India (a reference to the Shaheen Bagh protest).”