Amend Citizenship Rules to scrap “doubtful” mark in NPR: Opposition

The Opposition has sought clarifications from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on his statement of Thursday that no document will be sought during the NPR exercise and no one will be marked “Doubtful” in the process. The Opposition, on Friday, also rejected Shah’s offer for a meeting on the issue and said if Shah is honest he should amend the 2003 Rules under the Amendment to the Citizenship Act that empowers enumerators to mark “doubtful” on the question of citizenship.

The Congress said CAA-NPR-NRC is a single package and the party stands against it. Party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said it is an inherently divisive programme and even NDA allies have rejected it. “Congress ruled States will not implement NPR and NRC,” Surjewala reiterated.

Trinamool Congress’s leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O’Brien on Friday said Shah should answer the questions on the floor of the House and not inside his chamber. “I reject his invite for a discussion. He has to answer me in Parliament and not in his chamber. Parliament is not a boy’s club. You have to come here and answer the hard questions in Parliament. You call three-four MPs to the chamber. I don’t go to anybody’s chamber to have coffee. I want the answers on the floor of Parliament,” O’Brien said.

Meanwhile the Delhi Assembly passed a resolution against NPR and NRC following the path of other Opposition-led Governments. “Me, my wife, my entire cabinet don’t have birth certificates to prove citizenship. Will we be sent to detention centres?” asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “Sixty-one members of the (70-member) House do not have birth certificates. Will they be sent to detention centres?” he asked.

The CPI(M) said if, indeed, the Centre is honest about this remark, then they need to amend the 2003 Rules under the Amendment to the Citizenship Act. “Rules numbers - 3, 4, 5, 5 (a), (b), 6 (a), (b), (c) - deal exclusively with the process of preparation of the NPR and the identification of individuals whose citizenship is doubtful and prescribe the further process of enquiry and documentation required for people thus marked as doubtful. If the Home Minister’s assurance to the Parliament is to be believed, then this government should immediately scrap these Rules. In which case, the relevant clauses in the 2003 Amendment to the Citizenship Act that provide a legal status for the NRC would be rendered infructuous and, hence, the law should also be amended to scrap the NRC,” the Left party said in a statement.

It added that a majority of the State governments, representing large populations, have expressed their opposition to the NRC. “Respecting this as well, the 2003 amendment should be suitably amended to scrap the NRC. The PB of the CPI(M) categorically asserts that mere assertions in the Parliament do not evince confidence amongst the people that the NPR will not be used on a later date to facilitate the NRC. The relevant rules must be scrapped and the 2003 Act amended,” it said.

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