AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday said a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) would be “100 times worse”, citing the difficulties faced by minorities, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and migrants during the exercise in Assam.
“NRC is going to be 100 times worse. We’ve already seen how disastrous the NRC has been in Assam. It has caused immense trouble, especially for minorities, SC/STs and migrants,” Owaisi said in a post on X.
He said an NRC would require people to prove their citizenship by producing documents and questioned how those dependent on government rations would be able to establish their citizenship.
“NRC will force everyone to stand in line and prove their citizenship. In a country where 80 crore people depend on ration for food, you want them to find documents and prove their citizenship? To what end?” he said.
Drawing a parallel with the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Owaisi said ordinary people were being asked to appear for hearings with documents.
“This government wants us to be at the mercy of one babu or another,” he said.
He also slammed Union Home Minister Amit Shah, saying his “misplaced arrogance” and “chronology” had triggered the anti-CAA/NRC protests in 2019. He recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had subsequently said that there would be no NRC.
Owaisi’s remarks came a day after Shah said the NRC would be implemented in Manipur using the 1951 baseline before the Assembly elections.
Asked about a timeline for implementing the NRC nationwide, Shah said the government was discussing the matter with its allies and political parties in Manipur. “As soon as any decision is taken, we will inform you,” he said.
(With inputs from ANI)