The Catholic bishops of Jharkhand have urged the government to totally abrogate or suitably amend the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, suspend the National Population Register and unequivocally clarify its stand on the National Register of Citizens.

Six bishops submitted a memorandum, titled “Adivasi memorandum against CAA-NRC-NPR”, to chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday.

It was addressed to the President, the Prime Minister, the governor and chief minister of Jharkhand.

In the memorandum, they drew the government’s attention to the “adverse effects caused to the constitutional values by the recent CAA 2019”.

“We are also deeply distressed by the pain and sufferings brought about by the implementation of NRC in Assam recently,” the memorandum said.

“Six bishops, led by (Ranchi) Archbishop Felix Toppo, met chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday and handed over the memorandum to him,” said Theodore Mascarenhas, auxiliary bishop of Ranchi, who was in the team along with Vincent Barwa, Binay Kandulna, Anand Jojo and Paul Lakra, bishops of Simdega, Khunti, Hazaribagh and Gumla respectively.

“The new module of the NPR, which is expected to be initiated by April 1, has also created apprehensions in our minds regarding the purpose, goals, objectives and consequences of the exercise,” the memorandum said. “We sincerely fear that CAA-NRC-NPR together are going to hugely disrupt the peaceful and law abiding lives of crores of common people in the country, especially from the most marginalised sections of the society such as tribals, Dalits and minorities.”

The memorandum also mentioned that the provisions of the CAA violate Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution.

The bishops demanded that the CAA be abrogated or amended suitably, the NPR exercise be suspended till a Sarna code is incorporated, and the census be conducted the way it was done in 2011.