New Delhi: In an interview with Swaraj India President Yogendra Yadav, senior journalist Amit Agnihotri asked him about his party's call to boycott the proposed National Population Register (NPR) starting in April. Swaraj India has initiated a month-long drive 'We the people of India' for collectively boycotting the NPR.
Here is what Yogendra Yadav had to say on the issue:
Q1. “We the people of India”, the grouping you are part of, has given a call to boycott the proposed National Population Register, which the government says is a routine exercise. Can you elaborate, please?
Answer: We have given a call to boycott the NPR starting April. Why this call? Because this is the only way to prevent an unjust and divisive proposed National Register of Citizens which the government plans to bring later. We are not opposed to the government wanting to have a list of all citizens. There is already such a list called the voter list. On top of it, there is Aadhar card and ration card and many other ways to ascertain citizenship. Why not do something simple? Treat the voters' list as the NRC draft. Invite the people and those who get excluded can file a petition within five or six months. If the government thinks there is some wrong person there, it can file an objection. Instead, the government wants to get into a huge exercise of completely doing it afresh. Is it necessary? and would it not be discriminatory if it is to be based on documents. Going by the example of a similar NRC held in Assam earlier, would a national one not be a disaster. We believe that NPR and NRC would do to our society, what demonetization did to our economy. Therefore, we are opposing it.
Q2: Why do you keep saying the NRC is a hidden agenda of the ruling BJP?
Answer: Actually, the BJP agenda is not so hidden. The NRC, which was monitored by the Supreme Court in Assam, did not deliver the desired results for the BJP. They thought NRC would be an instrument through which Muslims immigrants would be thrown out while the Hindus would be saved. Obviously that could not happen as the exercise was being monitored by the apex court. When the NRC was done in Assam, 19 lakh foreigners were detected as a result, with the majority being Hindus. Now the BJP’s vote bank in Assam is Bengali Hindu hence they said let us scrap the NRC. This time since the SC is not monitoring anymore, they say we will do it any which way. And they already have a Citizenship Amendment Act which distinguishes between Hindus and Muslims. In case a Hindu is caught, we will keep them out under the CAA. This the evil design. Just to win some more votes in West Bengal assembly elections you are playing with the citizenship issue in the entire country.
Q3. So who all will be in the line of fire?
Answer: The NRC will affect every third person in the country. It will impact every tribal, Dalit and poor who don’t have documents and put all of them under a sword.
Q4. What is the risk for citizens if they boycott NPR?
Answer: We are calling for civil disobedience. No roughing up of officials. Treat the government officials well and offer them tea but don’t give them answers. Legally, the risk is a fine of Rs 1000 per family. But it should not exclude the family from any welfare scheme of the government. This is against the rule. There is false propaganda going on that those who oppose NPR will not get government benefits. The NPR can’t be used to exclude people from the list of government scheme beneficiaries. The only purpose of the NPR is to contribute to NRC.
Q5. What is your plan of action?
Answer: We have started a month-long drive to educate the people from Feb 22, the death anniversary of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and will end it on March 23, the martyrdom of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. The drive is a joint effort of around 100 different organisations, who have come under the banner of “We the people of India”. During this period, we will reach out to people and educate them about NPR. We will use social media as well. Ultimately it will be publicity through word of mouth that will spread the message.
Q6. Have you become the face of resistance be it the issue of violence in the Jawaharlal Nehru University or in Jamila Milia Islamia University or the NPR?
Answer: No, I am not the face of this resistance. In fact, women of this country are. These include the two women from Jamia who rescued their friend from policemen, Aishi Ghosh in JNU, and the women in Shaheen Bagh who are opposing the CAA. So the beauty is that a male face with a grey beard is not the face of this resistance, it is the women of this country.
