New Delhi: Seeking to put an end to apprehensions about the up-gradation of National Population Register (NPR), Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that there is no link between the National Population Register (NPR) exercise and the National Register of Citizen (NRC).
In an exclusive interview with a news agency, Shah said that the information obtained through NPR cannot be used for NRC as it is a separate process.
He said the union cabinet has not ever discussed NRC.
Shah's remarks came on a day the union cabinet approved the proposal for conducting the Census of India 2021 and updating of NPR.
The minister said that while Census was held every 10 years and NPR was started by the UPA government and the government was carrying it forward as it was a "good exercise".
"NPR is a register of population, NRC is a register of citizens. There is no link between the two and the two have different processes," Shah told.
He urged West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to rethink their decision to stop work on updating National Population Register (NPR).
"I want to tell chief ministers of both states (Kerala and West Bengal), don't take such step. They should rethink," Shah commented.
"This (NPR) is the base for welfare programmes for the poor of Kerala and Bengal. Please don't keep poor people out of the developmental programme for politics, bring them in," he added.
Shah also indicated that AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi would always oppose the steps of BJP-led government.
"I am not surprised by the stand taken by Owaisiji. If we say the sun rises from the east, then Owaisi saab would say it rises from the west. But I want to assure Owaisiji too that the NPR is very different from the NRC and it has nothing to do with it," Shah said.
Owaisi has been one of the most vocal critics of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which was enacted earlier this month.
Union Home Minister added that the National Population Register (NPR) will not affect the nationality status of any citizen of the country.
"NPR will not affect anyone's nationality. Even if somebody's name is missing from NPR, then also his citizenship will not be threatened," Shah explained.
"It is a constitutional provision and is the same exercise which was conducted by the Congress-led government earlier. It is neither a part of our manifesto nor our promise. It was a good move started by the Congress which is simply being followed," he said.
Besides, he assured that no person should have any reason to be concerned about the exercise as data collected under NPR exercise is helpful for the government to formulate schemes for people.
"The data collected under NPR will be used to formulate plans for the betterment of the public through central government schemes. It is not an exercise to decide citizenship of any person," Shah said.
With protests held in several parts of the country over the Citizenship Amendment Act, Home Minister said that there might have been some communication gap on the part of the government in reaching out to people.
Shah said he had made it clear in his speeches in parliament during the debate over the Citizenship Amendment Act that no member from the minority community will lose citizenship.
"I have no issue in admitting that there may have been some deficiency. But you can see my speech in Parliament. In that, I have said clearly that there is no question of any member of minority community losing citizenship," Shah said.
Noting that there was no connection between the detention centre and NRC or Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that misinformation was spread on the issue.
He said no detention centre has been created since the Modi government came to power.
"There is no connection between the detention center and NRC or CAA. The center has been there for years and is for illegal immigrants. Misinformation is being spread on this," he said.
Responding to a query, he said the government has given time of six months to people who have been excluded from Assam's NRC to approach the Foreigners Tribunal.
"We have also made several tribunals for this and nobody has been kept in the detention center. 19 lakh people who have been excluded from the list there are staying at their home only," said Shah.
Shah said there is only one detention centre which has been in existence for years and probably there was no other such centre.
"No detention centre has been made after the Modi-led government came to power," he said.
Shah said if a person without valid documents is caught in America, he or she will be kept in the detention center or any related arrangement and the process of contacting the respective country's embassy begins.
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