Opposition questions Narendra Modi's claim of 'no nationwide NRC', points to previous statements made by Amit Shah

Opposition leaders on Sunday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim that the government has no plans to conduct a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) by pointing to previous statements by Home Minister Amit Shah.

Shah on 20 November, without giving any time frame, had  announced in Parliament  that the government would implement the NRC across India.

Opposition leaders, including West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Congress’ Jairam Ramesh, Digvijaya Singh, AIMIM’s Asaddudin Owaisi,  reacted sharply to the prime minister’s comments at a rally in New Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan.

TMC supremo Banerjee led the charge tweeting:

Whatever I said is there in public forum, whatever you said is there for people to judge. With #PM contradicting #HomeMinister publicly on Nationwide NRC, who is dividing fundamental idea of India? People will definitely decide who is right & who is wrong #IRejectCAA #IRejectNRC

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) December 22, 2019

Congress leader Digvijay Singh pointed out that a tweet quoting Shah saying that the NRC will be implemented across the country had been deleted from BJP’s official Twitter handle. “Another classic example of double speak of BJP,” he said.

BJP handle deletes Amit Shah's NRC quote, but party says no rethink
Another classic example of Double Speak of BJP. Even Nadda ji Working President has made a clear Statement that they would enforce NRC throughout the Country. https://t.co/adpkscj9dd

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) December 22, 2019

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the prime minister’s statements were a part of a " good cop-bad cop routine".

Prime Minister says one thing. Home Minister says something else. But this is all part of the good cop-bad cop routine. Nobody should get fooled!
https://t.co/sfFwDztojd

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) December 22, 2019

Kerala chief minister Pinrayi Vijayan termed the prime minister’s assurances as “hollow” and drew attention to the claims made at the time of demonetisation.

The assurance of Prime Minister on NRC sounds hollow, because HM Mr. Shah contradicts this very claim. It is worth recollecting the claims made during the time of demonetization; "give me 50 days", ending counterfeits, black money, terrorism etc. Well, we all know what happened.

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) December 22, 2019

AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi said that if the prime minister was to be believed, then there was a case of breach of parliamentary privilege to be made out against Home Minister Amit Shah.

Today, Modi said there has been no discussion on nation-wide NRC and that lies are being spread to mislead us@PMOIndia who's lying? If @AmitShah is wrong, then it is breach of Parliamentary Privilege & a clear case of misleading the House

Who should we believe? pic.twitter.com/3ElmDcwJHy

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) December 22, 2019

Congress leader Sanjay Jha also took to Twitter to take the prime minister to task:

So it seems the PM Modi and Amit Shah are not on talking terms. The PM is not aware of Mr Shah”s public pronouncements on #NRC?

How bizarre and preposterous is the La la land of Indian politics??? Who is the PM trying to fool?

— Sanjay Jha (@JhaSanjay) December 22, 2019

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma, slamming the government, said,“The home minister’s statement in both Houses (on implementing the NRC post the CAA) has created an environment of fear, insecurity and uncertainty. It is primarily the government which is responsible for that.”

Sharma, also countering Modi’s statement during the rally that there were no detention centres in the country, he said, “They are present in India. People are being kept there. Those people, who fought for us in the Kargil War, have also been sent to those detention centres and the media has showed it.”

The Congress also tweeted from its official Twitter handle, sharing screenshots of headlines about detention centres in Assam and Navi Mumbai.

Does PM Modi believe Indians can't do a simple google search to fact check his lies?

Detention Centres are extremely real and will continue to grow as long as this govt is in power. https://t.co/S8caIH6u6J pic.twitter.com/APl4JNfQgc

— Congress (@INCIndia) December 22, 2019

Earlier in the day, in a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan, the prime minister said the amended Citizenship Act is not for any Indian citizen, be it Hindu or Muslim. Modi further stated that the NRC, which was formulated during the Congress regime in 1951, was implemented in Assam in accordance with the Supreme Court’s orders.

He also claimed that ever since his government first came to power in 2014, no discussions had been held on a nationwide NRC. Accusing the Opposition of spreading lies and creating fear among Muslims, he claimed that no detention centres were being built in the country.

With inputs from PTI