Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday said that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be implemented as the people won't allow the exercise to take place.
"NRC has nothing to do with legal citizenship documents. This is just a reason being given to implement the NRC. All Congress chief ministers have said that they will not implement the NRC in their respective states. Some other parties have also made similar announcements. It would not be implemented because the people will not allow it," Gandhi told reporters here.
Her remarks came after the Opposition alleged that the National Population Register (NPR) is the first step towards pan-India NRC. However, Union Minister Amit Shah has denied any link between the two exercises.
On December 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the NRC has not been discussed within the government. The NRC, which aimed at identifying illegal immigrants, was implemented in Assam.
The Congress leader also said that the new citizenship law is against the Constitution.
"CAA law is against the Constitution. Everyone will raise objections to it. You will ask for documents from the labourers, who are working in cities. How will they furnish the documents of the telephone bill and others from 1970? This law will also torture people like the demonetisation. The basis of this law is against the law," added she.
Protests have erupted in several parts of the country after the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, was passed in parliament. The Act seeks to grant Indian citizenship to Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
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