Ram Madhav clears doubt on NPR, says 'it's based on poverty & not religion'

BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav on Thursday addressed a press conference in Srinagar where he slammed the opposition parties for instigating violence in the states like Uttar Pradesh over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He also spoke about the National Population Register (NPR) and explained why it is necessary for the government to update it. Ram Madhav also commented on the party's performance in Jharkhand elections.

'CAA not against any community'

Speaking about CAA, Ram Madhav said, "The government of India has taken two important decisions, one is the Citizenship Amendment Bill which was passed in both the houses of the Parliament which is now the CAA. Few powers are trying to run a misinformation campaign across the country. They are also instigating violence in many states. I would want to clearly say to the people of the country that this law which was made was not against anyone. It is completely false that this law is discriminatory to Muslims. I would like to again say that some opposition parties and a few communal forces are trying to create an environment of fear in the country." 

On NPR, Ram Madhav said that an issue is being created out of nothing against this. "NPR is not related to Citizenship, it is an extension to the Census. This exercise was started by the UPA government in 2010. It was revised in 2015. Now, we have just updated it. It is necessary to update the data because people change their residence, mobile number and the government decides on providing direct benefits and help to the people on the basis of this data. If the data will not be available then how will the government help the people? Poor people are the ones who will be highly benefitted by this. It's on the basis of poverty and not religion. They are snatching the benefits of poor by opposing this."

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'BJP govt wants to polarise society'

The Congress on Thursday accused the BJP government of bringing the National Register of Citizens in the garb of the National Population Register and claimed that questions related to the NRC will be asked in the pre-test forms for the NPR. Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said his party will oppose the government if it tries to link the NPR with the NRC and alleged that it infringes upon the citizens' right to privacy. "The BJP government is trying to bring the NRC in the garb of the NPR. The BJP government wants to polarise the society," he said.

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