After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stated the National Register of Citizens of India (NRC) will not be implemented in the state, JD(U)’S Prashant Kishor reiterated the same, adding that the combination of CAA and NRC is “too deadly”.
In an interview with BBC Hindi, Kishore said, “I don't approve of CAA, but what I mean is that CAA being used along with NRC is far too deadly and discriminatory.”
He added, “The government cannot implement something like this without the cooperation of all the states. How do you bring something like NRC, until and unless state services are deployed to carry it out?”
Can Non-Cooperating States Be ‘Dismissed’?
Kishor, on talking about the states who are opposing CAA and NRC, said, “If he non-cooperating states are taken to the court, can the Centre use Article 356 of the Constitution, and dismiss or dissolve these state governments?”
He added that if the same happens, there will be elections again, which will lead to a “never-ending stalemate”.
Meanwhile, Article 356 of the Constitution confers a power upon the President which is to be exercised only where he is satisfied that a situation has arisen where the government of a State cannot be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution.
Talking about NRC, he said there is no need for it in Bihar.
“The confusion began because of CAA. Initially when it was a Bill, JD(U) had given limited support to CAA, but we were never okay with NRC, especially both of them coming together.”
‘Demonitisation of Indian Citizens’
Pointing out that it is not feasible to implement NRC country-wide, Kishor talked about the poor, and the marginalised, who will end up bearing the brunt of the same.
“To put the onus on the poor to prove his citizenship is an unnecessary exercise. Are we saying that around 130 crore citizens of this country will, for the next months and years, continue to be involved in this?”Prashant Kishor, JD(U) Leader
“I have called this the demonitisation of Indian citizenship, which means it’s invalid until proven otherwise,” he quipped.
Kishor, however, added that for BJP to rally for this is within their democratic rights because they have fought elections on these very points, which is why he is appealing now to non-BJP chief ministers. “I have written to those non-BJP Chief Ministers who are fighting against the agendas of the ruling party.”
‘Where Will Excluded People Go?’
Talking about the NRC exercise that was conducted in Assam, he said “It took around three years to implement it, and there are six percent of people whose name did not come in the NRC final draft. Now, if this executed nationwide, and even if five percent people do not come in the list, that leaves out around 7.5-10 crore people.”
Although Kishor asserted that as per the law of the land, the people in question will be eligible to go the Tribunals, he questioned:
“How many tribunals will you set up? Because of CAA, around 50 percent of the excluded will get their citizenship. Then despite this, there will 2.5-3 crore people left behind who will then become stateless.”Prashant Kishor, JD(U) Leader
He emphasised on several important questions, such as where three crore people would go, or which detention camp would they be sent to.
He added that if a legislation on such a wide-scale is brought out by targeting a particular community or a caste, it won’t sustain for long.
Meanwhile, train services were affected and roads blocked in Bihar on Saturday during a ‘bandh’ called by the RJD against the new citizenship law.
(With inputs from BBC Hindi, PTI)
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