Centre makes it official in Parliament, confirms 'no plan of pan-India NRC'

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday (February 4) said in Lok Sabha that the Centre has not taken any decision on implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) at the national level. The confirmation was made by MoS Home Nityanand Rai in a written reply on a question in Lok Sabha whether the government has any plans to introduce the NRC.

"Till now, the government has not taken any decision to prepare National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) at the national level," he said.

This is the first time when the government has made the declaration on the NRC in Parliament.

On February 3, as the Parliament opened for the Budget Session, most of the opposition parties, including Congress and Trinamool Congress, issued notices in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seeking debate and answers on Citizenship Act (CAA), NRC and National Population Register (NPR).

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said yesterday almost all the opposition parties, including the DMK, CPI, CPI(M), NCP, RJD, TMC, SP and the BSP, gave notices under Rule 267 to adjourn all business and discuss the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). "For the last two months, the whole country is on the road since the citizenship bill became an act. The NPR has done earlier but the questions asked were simple, but in this NPR under this government, other details such as the date of birth of the father have been asked," he said, according to the PTI.

"The government represents it as a Hindu-Muslim issue. We all feel that there is no Hindu-Muslim issue," Azad said.

"The government is doing all this to deliberately divert the attention from their failures to deliver on their promises, he said, adding that "they keep us giving toys to keep us busy."
Sharma said violence is being orchestrated by the government, which is being "both arrogant and insensitive".

Protests have been going in several parts of the country over the NRC, Citizenship Amendment Act and National Population Register for over a month now. In Delhi, hundreds of women and children in Shaheen Bagh and Jamia Nagar students have been on protests since December 2019 against the CAA and government's proposal to bring a nation-wide NRC.