NPR, NRC against India's poor, says Owaisi

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday urged Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to put a stay on National Population Register (NPR) in the state by likening it with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and asserted that both exercises are against the poor of the country.

"We request CM Reddy to put a stay on NPR exercise which is scheduled to begin from April 1. Had his father Rajashekar Reddy been alive today, he would have stopped NPR. There is no difference in NPR and NRC. They are both sides of the same coin," Owaisi said at a rally here.

"If NRC will be implemented in the country, experts have written that names of at least 8 crores will not come in the list. Where will they be kept? The stay on NPR should be like Kerala. NPR and NRC are not only against Muslims, Dalits, tribals, and Christians but they are against every poor of India," he said.

"Rules of NPR and NRC are more dangerous than TADA and POTA. If you want to save yourself from trouble in the future, then we have to protest against NPR, NRC, and CAA today," he said.

The Lok Sabha MP from Hyderabad said that the state government has no right to make a questionnaire for NPR.

"If CM Reddy comes under pressure from BJP and PM and implements the NPR then we will boycott it. If anybody comes to your house, then put a national flag at your house and show it to him and tell not to come again," he said.

"Reddy should not say that he will put NPR form of 2010 during the exercise. The state government has no right to make a questionnaire as it will be given by the Modi government. We have no objection over census. But the Modi government linked the census with NPR," he said.

Owaisi alleged that BJP wants to give citizenship to 13 lakh non-Muslims under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) whose names were excluded from the NRC list in Assam.

"Prime Minister and Home Ministry are lying to the country. Amit Shah in Kolkata said citizenship of any Muslim will not be taken away under CAA. In Assam NRC, the names of 19 lakh people do not figure on the list. There were five lakh Muslims and 13 non-Muslims excluded," Owaisi said.

"BJP wants to give citizenship to 13 lakh-non Muslims under CAA and not to the five lakh Muslims whose names don't come in the list. CAA gives citizenship and also takes it away. Assam is its example," he said.

The AIMIM leader continued: "PM is asking those five lakh Muslims to take their cases to foreigner's tribunal. Those people with five years of law practice have been made judges of this tribunal."

Owaisi claimed that the BJP-led Central government will implement NRC across the country.

"PM says there is no NRC at this moment. BJP government while replying to a question in Parliament said there is no NRC till now. They will do NRC in the future. If NPR is implemented and data is collected then anyone sitting in Delhi will do NRC. If there is stay on NPR then NRC will not be implemented," he said.

"There are around 70-80 lakh people in Hyderabad. A report came that if NRC is implemented then names of around 10 lakh will not come up in the NRC list," he added.