The CPM on Monday demanded an official notification to “stop the ongoing process” of the Citizenship Amendment Act, National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register, asserting that misleading statements like the one Narendra Modi made at a rally in Delhi wouldn’t suffice to end the pushback against these three measures.
The party also accused the Prime Minister of doling out a “bundle of untruths” on the NRC to mislead the people.
“The protests against the CAA/NRC/NPR will continue until an official notification is issued to stop the ongoing process,” the CPM politburo said in a statement.
The statement doubled as a fact check on the Prime Minister’s speech on Sunday, with the CPM picking on three statements and dubbing them “Lie No. 1”, “Lie No. 2” and “Lie No. 3”.
“Lie No. 1”, according to the CPM, is Modi’s claim that there has been no discussion in his government since 2014 on the NRC anywhere.
The party flagged the BJP’s 2019 election manifesto, which had promised a countrywide NRC in a phased manner, and pointed to home minister Amit Shah’s statement during the debate on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in the Lok Sabha on November 9 when he said: “We will bring the NRC across the country. Not a single infiltrator will be spared.”
The NRC process, the CPM also noted, is to begin with the compilation of the NPR from April 1 to September 30, 2020. “The NPR is the first stage of NRC. The gazette notification for this was issued on July 31, 2019,” the politburo said.
The CPM-led Kerala government had even begun the NPR exercise but called it off last week in view of the growing pushback countrywide.
About Modi’s claims that there were no detention centres, the CPM highlighted the home ministry’s reply in Parliament on December 11, stating that instructions had been issued to all states for setting up detention centres to detain illegal migrants or convicted foreigners pending deportation. Further, the central government had sent consolidated instructions to all states and Union Territories for the construction of such centres.
Apart from these, there is a submission made by the Centre to this effect in Karnataka High Court and a confirmation by the government in the winter session of Parliament that 28 people had died in Assam’s detention camps. According to this reply, 988 “foreigners” were lodged in six detention centres in Assam.
The third “lie” the CPM has sought to nail is the Prime Minister’s claim that “I have never asked for anyone’s religion”. The CPM referred to two statements Modi had made during his election campaigns this year; the most recent being his claim in Dumka, Jharkhand, last week that those indulging in violence could be identified by their clothes.
Earlier, during the Lok Sabha polls, the Prime Minister had said the then Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, had chosen to contest from Wayanad in Kerala because it was “a seat where the majority is in minority”, the CPM pointed out.
