CPI(M)'s Yechury urges CM Patnaik not to allow NPR in Odisha

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday termed the National Population Register exercise as a precursor of the National Register of Citizens and urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik not to allow it in Odisha. As governments of 13 states including Odisha have already announced not to allow NRC and six chief ministers opposed the NPR, it can be said that half of India is against the two, he said. "So, the NPR and the NRC cannot be completed (across the country) because of their adverse impact on the nation's unity," Yechury at a CPI(M) rally. Yechury said he wanted to meet Patnaik but could not due to the chief minister's prior engagements.

"However, I spoke to him over the phone and apprised him that NPR, 2020 is not the same as it has been earlier. Now, the Centre has added some questions in the NPR format to get the information required for the NRC," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have said that no discussion was held on implementing the NRC, but the central government told the Parliament nine times that it would be taken up across the country, Yechury asserted.

"I appealed to Naveen Patnaik not to allow NPR in Odisha as this is the initial exercise for the NRC," he said. People who will not be able to provide all information during the NPR exercise may be tagged as doubtful citizens and their names will not appear in the NRC list, Yechury claimed. Tribals, Dalits, poor and destitute people, and widows may not be able to arrange the requisite documents to satisfy the official requirement, the CPI(M) leader said.

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He claimed that there would be no separate survey for the NRC as the Centre plans to collect the required information during the NPR exercise. "Everybody should understand that the NRC will cause more harm than good. Because of the Centre's design, the NPR exercise will also suffer," he said demanding the withdrawal of the CAA and halting of the NPR and NRC processes.

He said the CPI(M) activists will undertake door-to-door campaign across the country in February and March to make people aware of the adverse impact of the CAA, NRC, and NPR.

Yechury slams BJP

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying quoting parliamentary speeches made in Parliament during partition to justify NRC, NPR, and CAA was a "travesty of the truth". He also accused Modi of "discarding the sanctity" of Parliament for "petty politicking" and said it was a sad day for democracy when it is done by a man "occupying the PM's chair."

Modi tore into the Opposition in marathon combative speeches in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and said those rejected by people in elections are fuelling protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Population Register (NPR) for their "vote bank politics"

"Calling Opposition 'liars' by quoting parliamentary speeches during Partition, the largest and most horrendous human transmigration in history, as justification for this unconstitutional CAA/NPR/NRC is a travesty of the truth. "None of the 70-year-old quotes Modi has read says not giving shelter & citizenship to Muslims. His litany of untruths grows as his policies try to divide our people, destroy our social harmony through spread of hate & violence," Yechury tweeted. Modi was replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address.

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