Bhopal: A Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh on Monday urged the state government to withdraw the gazette notification issued on the National Population Register (NPR), saying that the exercise, with amendments, would be vehemently opposed.
Arif Masood, the first-time MLA from Bhopal, warned off a massive protest if the NPR is not rejected.
Masood said that the Congress-led MP government, like the Centre, has also issued a gazette notification on the commencement of NPR. The lawmaker has been a vocal critic of the NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) since the Centre formulated the twin legislations.
Chief Minister Kamal Nath has affirmed that the state will not implement the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
“It’s a wrong thing that happened and should be clarified. The NPR is just a small form of the National Register of Citizens (NRC),” he said.
Masood claimed that the BJP will not implement the nationwide NRC, as it has proposed, but manage to get it in force through the NPR.
The Census earlier was carried out by government staffers requiring details of family members, but the Narendra Modi-led government has modified it as well as the NPR through a fresh system that would need the information of their ancestors as well, he claimed, adding that he opposes the six sub-rules under which the NPR has been tagged.
Masood said a campaign to script the slogan “Hum kagaz nahin dikhayenge (we won’t show the papers), No NRC, No CAA and No NPR” would soon be started in the state capital.
Masood said that in the first phase, a mega protest will be organised in the last week of February – it will be attended by national figures and a memorandum will be handed over to Chief Minister Kamal Nath.
Masood also urged the Congress government to reject the NPR, saying that they will start a protest if the state government fails to act on the issue after the first phase.
Masood said that while he is still with the Congress, he will review the strategy if the need arises.
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