Govt contradicting its stance on NPR: Sitaram Yechury

Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday hit out at the Central government over the National Population Register (NPR) saying "the government is contradicting its stance on the same."

He said, "They are doing NPR up-gradation and have added additional criteria. They are also asking for information on twenty-one heads. Now it has been said nine times that NPR will be the basis on which the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be created. Now, this is something the government itself had stated. Whatever the Prime Minister is claiming on the NPR was not discussed with us."

"Is there something in the written form which states that NPR will be on the basis of the NRC. What is its final objective?" he asked.Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday, seeking to allay apprehensions about the up-gradation of NPR, had said that there was no link between the NPR exercise and the NRC.

In an exclusive interview with ANI Editor Smita Prakash, Shah had stated that the information obtained through NPR cannot be used for the NRC. He said the Union Cabinet had not discussed the NRC.

Shah's remarks came on a day when the Union Cabinet approved the proposal for conducting the Census of India 2021 and updating of NPR.