Muslim would be asked documents to prove their nationality, says Shashi Tharoor

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said here that the ongoing protests in the country over the citizenship law could be defused if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister assure that they would "drop the idea of the National Register of Citizens" and will no longer go to every door asking for documentary proof of "where your father and mother were born."

Speaking at the Kerala Literature Festival, Tharoor also said that during the National Population Register (NPR) enumeration, Muslims would be asked to produce documents to prove their nationality.

"Home Minister has explicitly tied CAA with NRC. CAA says if you can prove you are from these countries (Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan) we will fast track your citizenship," said Tharoor.

"Every Indian would be asked for documentation and 65 per cent Indians don't have birth certificates. If people of these faiths (Hindus, Sikh, Parsi, Christian and Buddhist) don't have a birth certificate they would be allowed for something else whereas Muslim without documentation would be asked "how can we believe that you are not from Pakistan," he said.

"They would be asked to prove that they are born here," he said.

The MP from Thiruvananthapuram said: "The protest that has intensified can be diffused if Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah say we are dropping NRC and we would not ask NPR enumerators to go to every door asking for where their father and mother were born."

"They must assure that they will no longer give power to officials to write 'dubious citizenship' against your names," said Tharoor.

"But they (PM Narendra Modi & Home Minister Amit Shah) are not prepared to give all those assurances and it says about their intent. Their intention is very much to identify people living in India," he added

CAA grants citizenship to the non-Muslim refugee from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014. The National Population Register (NPR) is a Register of usual residents of the country. It is being prepared at the local (Village/sub-Town), sub-District, District, State and National level under provisions of the Citizenship Act.