Delhi Assembly Passes Resolution Against NRC, NPR

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal further pointed out that 61 of the 70 legislators in the Delhi Assembly did not have birth certificates to prove their citizenship.

The Delhi assembly in a one-day special session on Friday, March 13, passed a resolution against the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and urged the central government to withdraw the same.

"Under the NPR and NRC, the public will be asked to prove their citizenship. Ninety percent of the people have no official birth certificate to prove this. Will everyone be sent to the detention centre? This fear is haunting everyone. My appeal to the Centre is to stop NPR and NRC," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said while addressing the assembly.

He further said that people of all religions will be affected by the NPR and NRC.

"If you show your papers, whether you are a Hindu or a Muslim or belong to any other religion, you will be granted citizenship and if you fail to show papers, and you happen to be a Muslim, you will be sent to detention camps, and if you are a Hindu, you will be asked whether you have come from Pakistan and you reply in the affirmative, your papers will be made, you will not be asked any questions and you will be granted citizenship," he said.

"But if you say that you are a Hindu born in Hindustan, your papers will not be made and you will be sent to detention camps. What is the sin committed by the Hindus of India? This law favours the Hindus of Pakistan and is against the Hindus of India," he added.

The CM said that neither he nor his wife and parents have a birth certificate issued by a government agency.

"Even I do not have those. There are six people in my house, only my children have these documents, the rest of us do not have it. So will the CM's family be sent to the detention centre. The entire Cabinet does not have it. Will it too go to a detention centre. Even the Speaker does not have it," he said.

He further pointed out that 61 of the 70 legislators in the Delhi Assembly also did not have birth certificates to prove their citizenship. He then asked the members about how many of them were ready to give affidavits saying that they have come from Pakistan.

He added that the focus of the government should be on fighting the coronavirus pandemic and reviving the economy.

Puducherry, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, and West Bengal had earlier passed resolutions to oppose either the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) or the NRC and NPR.

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Editor : Sumanti Sen
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By : Reethu Ravi

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