At Delhi anti-CAA protest, Arundhati Roy asks people to oppose NPR by furnishing wrong names, addresses to officials

New Delhi: Author-activist Arundhati Roy on Wednesday claimed that the National Population Register (NPR) will serve as a database for the NRC and asked people to oppose the former by furnishing wrong names and addresses. Addressing a protest gathering at Delhi University, she also claimed that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) was targeted against the Muslims of the country. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has already said there was no link between the NPR and the NRC and their databases cannot be used for each other. The Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved Rs 3,941.35 crore for updating the National Population Register(NPR). The NPR is a list of “usual residents” of the country. [caption id=“attachment_7825431” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Writer Arundhati Roy addressing a protest rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Delhi. Image: Shubham Singh[/caption] A “usual resident” is defined for the purposes of NPR as a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in that area for the next six months or more. The data for National Population Register (NPR) was collected in 2010 along with the house-listing phase of Census of India 2011. The data was updated in 2015 by conducting door-to-door survey. Roy said that officials will visit people’s homes under NPR exercise for taking their names, addresses and other details. “They will visit your homes, take your name, phone number and ask for documents like Aadhaar and driving licences. The NPR will become database of NRC. “We need to fight against it and have a plan. When they visit your home for NPR, and ask for your name give them some different name… .For address say 7 RCR. A lot of subversion will be needed, we are not born to face lathis and bullets,” she told the protest meeting. Roy accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of telling a “lie” at his Ramlila Ground rally here on Sunday that his government never said anything about the NRC process and that there are no detention camps in the country. “He told the lie knowing that it will be caught but still he lied because he has media with him which will not question him.” Roy said that those protesting against the amended Citizenship Act and the NRC need to work for getting a “proper commitment” from various states that they will not implement these measures. She alleged that after widespread protests against the CAA and NRC in the country, the government has been trying to push the provisions of NRC and CAA through NPR. Alleging that Muslims are being attacked and oppressed by the police in Uttar Pradesh, she claimed, “Attacks are taking place on Muslims in UP. Police are going house to house ransacking and looting.” She said that CAA and NRC were not only against Muslims also against Dalits, tribals and poor people in the country. The protest organised by Joint Committee For Action Against CAA/NRC, was also addressed by other members of civil society including Bollywood actor Zeeshaan Ayyub, who said that the students and youth of the country were fighting for a right cause and they will achieve success through their struggle.