No discussion on pan-India NRC, says Amit Shah

Dismissing opposition accusations about the government pushing NRC, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday said that there has been no discussion regarding the National Register of Citizens either in the Cabinet or in the Parliament.

In an exclusive interview with ANI Editor Smita Prakash, Shah also accused sections of the opposition of trying to stoke fear on National Population Register (NPR) as pople had understood the purpose of government bringing Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

"There is no need to debate this (pan-India NRC) as there is no discussion on it right now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was right. There is no discussion on it yet either in the Cabinet or Parliament," Shah said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Sunday accused the opposition parties of spreading lies about the Citizenship Amendment Act and NRC. He said that the BJP-led government had not brought NRC and it was made when Congress was in power.

Shah also said that there was no link between CAA and NPR and notification for National Population Register had been made when the file of citizenship amendment Act had not started.

"There is no provision in CAA to take away citizenship of any person and it was for giving citizenship. Minorities, including Muslims, should not fear. The notification of NPR was made in July. At that time CAA had not come. The file of the bill had even not started. There is now no fear in the minds of people about it, hence some people now want to create scare of NPR," he said.

Shah said almost all states have notified NPR.