The BJP has dropped compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) from its manifesto that was released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 14. NRC was one of the prominent poll promises in the party’s 2019 manifesto.
The 2024 manifesto, however, mentions “implementation of the CAA.”
“We have taken the historic step of enacting the Citizenship Amendment Act [CAA] and will implement it to confer citizenship to all eligible persons,” the manifesto said.
In 2019, the party manifesto said expeditious compilation of the NRC was necessary as “there has been a huge change in the cultural and linguistic identity of some areas due to illegal immigration, resulting in an adverse impact on local people’s livelihood and employment.”
It added, “We will expeditiously complete the NRC process in these areas on priority. In future we will implement the NRC in a phased manner in other parts of the country.”
SC orders
Assam is the only State where NRC, first compiled in 1951 was updated on the orders of the Supreme Court in August 2019.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on March 11 notified the CAA rules, which enabled the implementation of the Act, four years after it was passed on December 11, 2019 by both Houses of Parliament.
The CAA enables citizenship to undocumented migrants belonging to six non-Muslim communities — Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 and reduces the period to qualify for citizenship from existing 11 years to 5 years.
There are fears and apprehensions that the CAA, followed by a countrywide compilation of the NRC will adversely affect Muslims as the CAA will come to the rescue of non-Muslims excluded from the register while the former will have to prove citizenship through documents.
In Assam, 19 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants have been excluded from the NRC. Around 11 lakh people of those excluded from the NRC are said to be Hindus who would benefit from the CAA by declaring that they came from Bangladesh before December 31, 2014.
83 killed
As many as 83 people were killed in protest and riots from December 2019-March 2020 in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Delhi after the CAA was passed. After the violence, the government informed the Parliament that “till now it has not taken any decision to prepare the NRC at national level” and denied that the CAA and the NRC are linked.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on December 22, 2019, said there had been no discussions on an all-India NRC since the BJP-led government assumed power in 2014 and the NRC was implemented in Assam following the Supreme Court’s orders.
However, a month ago, Home Minister Amit Shah, while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha said the “NRC process will be conducted across the country and people from any religion need not fear.”
