On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaking at a rally in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, defended his government's decision to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act. Attempting to delink the CAA from the National Record of Citizenship (NRC), Modi claimed that his government never mentioned the NRC since his government came to power in 2014. Any implementation of the NRC was limited only to Assam post the Supreme Court directive, claimed Prime Minister Modi.
BOOM looked through Modi's own speeches and statements made by Home Minister Amit Shah and found this claim to be false.
Not only has Modi mentioned NRC before, during the campaign trail before the Lok Sabha elections this year, Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah has also mentioned it multiple times at various occasions, especially in association with the Citizenship Amendment Bill (now an Act) [CAA].
At his more than 2-hour long speech on Sunday, Modi said,
"Meri sarkar aane ke baad. 2014 se aaj tak main sar 130 crore deshwasiyon koh kehna chahta hoon. Kahi par bhi NRC shabd par koi charcha nahi hui, koi baat nahi hui.Sirf Supreme Court ne jab kaha toh woh sirf Assam ke liye karna pada. Kya baatein kar rahe ho."
("After my government came into power, from 2014 to today, I want to tell my 130 crore countrymen that nowhere did we discuss the NRC, and nowhere did we speak about it. When the Supreme Court said, it was only done for Assam. What are you talking about?")
His statement can be seen here.
Modi was attempting to distance the government from the NRC process in this mega rally, which was one of the biggest since the contentious CAA became an Act on November 12. More than 20 people have died in the nationwide agitations against the Act.
WHEN PM MODI SPOKE ABOUT NRC
On two earlier occasions, Prime Minister Modi had said that the NRC will be implemented.
First, he made this statement at a rally in Silchar in Assam on January 4, where he reiterates the coming of NRC.
"Yeh bharosa dilane aaya hoon ki National Registry of Citizenship (sic) - NRC... aapko phir se bharosa deta hoon ke koi bhi Bharatiya nagrik usme se nahi chootega, yeh main aapko vishwas dilata hoon."
("I have come here to assure you that National Registry of Citizenship (sic) - NRC, and I assure you again that no Indian citizen will be off it, this I reassure you.")
He later goes on to acknowledge the pain that citizens have faced during the process, but credits their sacrifice towards putting the the NRC issue away for good.
His statement can be seen here.
On April 19 this year, in an interview with Times Now, Modi also criticised the non-implementation of the provisions of the Assam Accord by previous governments.
"NRC ke baad pata chala ki yeh chitra bada chintajanak hai, aur chintajanak hai to desh mein iski charcha honi chahiye. Aur duniya mein koi desh aisa hoga jo dharamshala ho? Koi desh aisa hoga jiske paas apna citizen ka register na ho?"
("After the NRC, we go to know that the picture (of infiltrators) is one of concern, and since it is of concern, it must be discussed in the country. Is there any country in the world which is a hospice? One which does not have a register of its citizens?")
This statement can be seen here.
Sorbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister, Assam
On September 18, 2018, Sorbananda Sonowal attended a seminar on the NRC in New Delhi, where he did mention the Assam model of the NRC for the rest of the country.
The press release said:
"Asserting that infiltration cannot be allowed to go unchecked which otherwise could have disastrous consequences on social harmony and territorial integrity of the country, the chief minister reiterated that the NRC process in Assam can be a model to emulate across the country for tackling the problem of illegal migration. He also said that Draft NRC has come out through a legal process and the State and Central Governments are doing their constitutional duties under the directions of the Supreme Court to bring out a flawless NRC."
The press release can be seen here.
BJP's MANIFESTO
The BJP in its election manifesto this year, said that the BJP government would implement the NRC as a tool to combat illegal infiltration, citing an adverse cultural linguistic impact on population in parts of India.
A snapshot of the BJP's manifesto can be used here.
WHAT AMIT SHAH SAID
Earlier, BOOM highlighted five instances where Home Minister Amit Shah made it quite clear that the NRC will follow the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in parliament.
This can be read below.
Among these, Shah said during a press conference on April 23:
"Understand the chronology. First the CAB will come, and after the CAB the NRC will come; not only for Bengal, but for the whole country".
A similar statement was also given to ABP News, where he reiterates the same process.
The NRC is a process that tabulates a list of Indians who could prove their own or their ancestors' presence to legal Indian citizenship before March 24, 1971. Failure to do so could render one to be declared a foreigner. 19 lakh people were off the NRC in Assam, many of who were Hindu.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 was passed by Parliament and approved by President Ram Nath Kovind. The Act permits six non-Muslim religious minorities, who come to India as refugees fleeing religious persecution, expedited access to Indian citizenship. While opponents of the Act say that it is discriminatory, the government says that it is a humane piece of legislation for helpless refugees with nowhere else to go. A combination of NRC and the CAA is being touted as collectively being a ticket to non-Muslims' re-integration into Indian society.
