The CPM politburo on Friday sought to pin Union home minister Amit Shah to his statement that no one will be categorised “doubtful” in the update of the National Population Register (NPR), demanding that the provision be removed from the statute books.
“If the home minister’s assurance to Parliament is to be believed, this government should immediately scrap these rules. In which case, the relevant clauses in the 2003 Amendment to the Citizenship Act that provide a legal status for the NRC would be rendered infructuous and, hence, the law should also be amended to scrap the NRC,” the politbureau said in a statement.
The minister had told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that no one would be marked doubtful even if they did not respond to all queries in the NPR. However, the provision to categorise people as doubtful during the verification for the National Register of Indian Citizens is still a part of The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003.