Oppn parties slam PM's remark on no discussion on nationwide NRC

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark that his government never discussed a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) drew sharp reactions from the opposition parties on Monday with the Congress alleging the BJP is trying to fool the country and the Left accusing him of lying.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar also expressed surprise at Modi's comment, and said President Ram Nath Kovind had even talked about the government's plan to implement the NRC across the country in his joint address to Parliament.

As the opposition countered the claims by Modi on a nationwide NCR, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan said it will be implemented but only after detailed discussions.

Seeking to allay apprehensions, especially among Muslims on the NRC, the prime minister told a rally in Delhi on Sunday that his government has never discussed it since coming to power for the first time in 2014.

The NRC has been discussed neither in Parliament nor in the Cabinet, he said.

"Since my government first came to power in 2014, I want to tell 130 crore countrymen, there has never been a discussion on this NRC," he said, noting that it was done only in Assam due to a Supreme Court order.

The Congress noted that the BJP in its Jharkhand assembly election manifesto claimed it will implement the NRC and Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said it will be implemented across the country, but the prime minister is now claiming just the opposite,
Party spokesperson Sanjay Jha said. The NRC will not be implemented pan-India and neither will the CAA (Citizenship (Amendment) Act). Until we hear this formally, officially today by the government of India please don't believe the disingenuous fraudulent speeches."
Pawar told reporters in Mumbai that even Shah had also spoken on the NRC in the Rajya Sabha,
Recalling that President Kovind too had talked about implementing the NRC across the country, Pawar said the President's speech reflects the government's policy. "Now to say there was no discussion on this (NRC in the Cabinet) is not right."
"I think the government has failed on every front. To divert attention of the public at large from such a situation, they are raising such issues and giving such speeches. Beyond that there is nothing in it."
"Modi did not participate in the debate on such a critical legislation (CAA). The home minister was piloting the bills -- CAB and the one on Article 370. Now the prime minister says that it is not a government agenda. Then who is speaking the truth and who is spreading lies?