The government was only continuing the NPR exercise started by the UPA government
Union Minister G Kishan Reddy on Thursday dismissed as "baseless" the opposition parties' claims on National Population Register (NPR) that it was the first step towards implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC) and said there was no link between the two.
The response comes a day after AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi along with representatives of a body of Muslim organisations in Telangana met Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and requested him to stop work on the NPR, just as Kerala did. They said the NPR was the first step towards NRC.
"I strongly condemn the deliberate and baseless misinformation campaign being carried out by the opposition parties and a section of media that NPR is a precursor to NRC. I want to make it categorical that there is no link between the two. The present NPR is part of 2021 Census enumeration," Mr Reddy said in a statement.
He said the government was only continuing the NPR exercise started by the UPA government in 2010 by adding three or four columns related to the place of birth of parents of a person being enlisted, Aadhaar card number and last place of residence, which are basic requirements for NPR.
He accused opposition the parties of playing "mind games" and vitiating people's faith in the government, derailing the process of progressive engagement, which is mandatory for planning the welfare agenda.
"I appeal to the people not to be swayed by this propaganda of neo Goebbels who are enemies of the poor," the Minister of State for Home said.
The centre had Tuesday approved nearly Rs 12,700 crore for carrying out the Census 2021 and the NPR and made it clear that NPR has no link with the NRC.