BHUBANESWAR: CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Thursday urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik not to allow the exercise of National Population Register (NPR) in Odisha.Terming the proposed NPR exercise as a precursor of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Yechury thanked Patnaik for its decision against NRC.
Addressing a public meeting here opposing Citizens Amendment Act, NPR and NRC, the CPM leader said almost half of the country are opposed to NPR. “I appealed to Naveen Patnaik not to allow NPR in Odisha as this is the initial exercise for the NRC,” he said. Yechury said he wanted to meet Patnaik but could not due to the Chief Minister’s prior engagements.
He, however, spoke to him over the phone and apprised him that NPR-2020 is not the same as it has been earlier. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have said that no discussion was held on implementing the NRC, but Union Home Minister Amit Shah told the Parliament many times that it will be taken up across the country, he added.
Claiming that people who will not be able to provide all information during the NPR exercise may be tagged as doubtful citizens and their names will not appear in the NRC list, Yechury said tribals, Dalits, poor and destitute people may not be able to arrange the requisite documents to satisfy the official requirement. He said his party will stage a protest during the visit of US President Donald Trump to the country later this month.