Bihar will carry NPR updation from May 15-28: Sushil Modi

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi has said the updation process of the National Population Register (NPR) will be carried out in the state from May 15 to May 28 this year, notwithstanding the West Bengal and Kerala governments' decision to put the exercise on hold in their respective states.

Bihar senior BJP leader also said administrative and punitive action would be taken against officials if they refuse to carry out the constitution mandated NPR.

"The NPR process in 2020 will be carried out between April 1 to September 30 in the country. In Bihar it will be done between May 15 and May 28, 2020," Sushil Modi told reporters on Saturday.

The statement assumes significance as Kerala Chief Minister P Vijayan has written to 11 non-BJP chief ministers, including his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar, citing a resolution passed by the state demanding scrapping of the amended Citizenship Act and asking them to take similar steps against the contentious legislation.

Nitish Kumar is running a coalition government in the state with the BJP.

"Kerala has decided to address the apprehensions about NRC that preparations of NPR (National Population Register) will lead to NRC by staying all activities relating to NPR in the state," Vijayan, the lone Left Chief Minister in the country, said in the letter.

The Bihar cm, who has already said no to National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state, has not spoken anything on the NPR so far.

Addressing the press conference on Saturday, Sushil Modi said the process of preparing NPR began in 2010 during the UPA regime which was completed between April 1 to September 30 that year.

The Centre is "updating" the NPR 2010 in 2020 just before the 2021 census, Bihar Deputy chief minister said.

Modi on Sunday highlighted a copy of the Bihar government's December 18 last notification for carrying NPR exercise in the state from May 15 to May 28.

"NPR and NRC are two different things", he said.

He also dared West Bengal and Kerala chief ministers, Mamata Banerjee and P Vijayan respectively not to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the NPR if they can.

"No state including West Bengal, Kerala, Rajasthan can refuse to implement the CAA or NPR as the Centre has the power to bring legislation over citizenship. Preparing NPR is a statutory provision which no state can refuse to implement," Sushil Modi added.

Meanwhile, RJD president Lalu Prasad is making a pitch for caste-based census, demanding that the National Population Register forms, which have "numerous columns", incorporate "one more" pertaining to the respondents' castes.

In a tweet message he made a veiled attack on the BJP, asking whether OBCs and EBCs were "not Hindus" that there has been a reluctance to compile fresh data of their population.

"Billions would be splurged on the so-called NPR, NRC and the Indian Census of 2021. Have learnt that NPR forms have numerous columns. Then, why is there a problem in adding one more column for caste," the septuagenarian, who is in Ranchi serving sentences in fodder scam cases, tweeted.