The Left parties on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to mislead people with a “bunch of lies” on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and said he was rattled by the intensity of the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
In a fact-check sheet, the CPI(M) sought to counter Mr. Modi’s claim at a rally on Sunday that there was no discussion at all on a pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC) and assured the Muslims that they need not worry about the CAA. “Clearly rattled by the intensity of the popular protests across the country against the CAA/NRC/NPR and the declaration by at least 10 Chief Ministers that they would not implement the NRC, Mr. Modi unleashed... a bundle of untruths aimed at misleading the people,” the party said. It pointed out that the BJP’s manifesto for the 2019 general election had promised a pan-India NRC.
Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D. Raja said that while the Prime Minister said the NRC was not on the government’s agenda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and others had spoken about it, even in Parliament. “Mr. Modi did not take part in the debate on such a critical legislation [the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill]. The Home Minister was piloting the Bills: the the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and the one on Article 370. Now Mr. Modi says it is not on the government’s agenda. Who is speaking the truth and who is spreading lies?” he said.
Both parties highlighted the discrepancies in Mr. Modi’s speech, pointing out how Mr. Shah had asserted repeatedly in Parliament that a countrywide NRC would be prepared, and the exercise would be repeated in Assam. They quoted the November 9 debate on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha during which Mr. Shah had said, “Not a single infiltrator will be spared”.
The party also questioned Mr. Modi’s claim of no detention centres. In a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on December 11, the Home Ministry had said instructions had been issued to all the States on the establishment of detention centres to hold illegal immigrants or convicted foreigners, pending deportation. On January 9, the Centre had sent all the States and the Union territories the consolidated instructions for the construction of detention centres, they said.
