Kanhaiya with social activist Medha Patkar in Patna. (PTI)
Days after the Bihar Assembly passed resolutions to not implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state and to implement the National Population Register (NPR) in its 2010 format, CPI leader and former JNU Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on Thursday demanded that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar withdraw the gazette notification on NPR.
Kanhaiya had started a statewide tour under the banner of Joint Forum Against NPR-CAA-NRC on January 30 and held public meetings in all districts. On Thursday, his tour culminated in a meeting at Patna where he shared stage with Congress MLAs Awadhesh Singh and Shakil Ahmed Khan, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi Tushar Gandhi, Narmada Bachao Andolan leader Medha Patkar and former IAS officer Kannan Gopinathan, among others.
Addressing the gathering, Kanhaiya targeted the BJP on issues such as unemployment and farmers’ distress. “Hume chahiye rozgar, nahi chahiye NPR,” he said.
“What is the need of pro-CAA rally when the CAA is a law? They are seeking polarisation… Do you know most of those killed in Delhi were migrant labourers from Bihar and UP? Do not see their religion, they were doing the same thing to earn their livelihood outside their states,” said Kanhaiya.
Hailing the Bihar Chief Minister for getting passed in the Assembly a resolution for NPR in the old format, he said the state government should also withdraw the gazette notification in this regard. “Let me make it clear that this rally is not for a leader. I am not in support of any particular community as NPR-NRC-CAA would hurt the poor from all religions. It would hurt Kamrans as much as Kanhaiyas and the ones in burqas and veils alike,” said Kanhaiya.