As the protests continued unabated over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), chief ministers of 12 states have stated their refusal to implement it. This includes populous states such as West Bengal, Punjab, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Rajasthan.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is an enrollment exercise proposed to enlist all the citizens of India into a single database. With the Centre yet to frame regulations for the NRC, the proposed exercise is riddled with ambiguity.
The government itself seems to know little at this stage.
Gauging the pushback from the citizens, many state leaders have rejected NRC, and have assured their people that they won’t implement either the controversial CAB or the NRC in their states. Here’s how that looks:
With the government now pushing for the National Population Register (NPR), all eyes are on these states to see how they react. NPR is a self-declaration shared by citizens to prove their identity, but several government documents indicate that the NPR is linked to the NRC, because it includes a new section where respondents must state their parents’ birthplace – a question that has never been included before.
The possible tussle over the NPR’s implementation could prove to be another flashpoint between the Centre and the states.
Do you think other states may also join this anti-NRC league? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)