The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its leaders and ministers have been accused of adding to the confusion over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), because many of them have said things that are contradictory.?
While some have said that there will be a nationwide NRC, others have said that it won't be carried out across the country.BJP chief and India's Home Minister Amit Shah has on several occasions said that NRC which has so far only been carried out in Assam will be conducted in other states like West Bengal.He had said the same, both inside and outside the Parliament on several occasions.?
"The process of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be carried out across the country. No one irrespective of their religion should be worried. It is just a process to get everyone under the NRC," Shah had said in the Rajya Sabha in November.He had repeated the same in the Lok Sabha on December 9 and said that the government will definitely roll out a nation-wide NRC to identify and expel infiltrators.?
BJP working president J P Nadda had also said that a nation-wide NRC will be carried out.?
However, amid the growing protests across the country against the Modi government over the CAA and NRC Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking at a party event in Delhi last week had said that there were no plans for a nationwide NRC.?
¡°NRC has not been brought before Parliament. It has not been discussed in the cabinet. I can assure 130 crore Indians that since 2014, when our government was formed, the term NRC has not figured in any discussion in the government," Modi had said."The NRC that has been implemented is limited to Assam and had to be done because of the Supreme Court order that came when Congress was in power. Were they asleep?" he asked.?
The party had also launched a massive outreach programme to counter what they said were misinformation and lies being propagated about the NRC. As part of this, the party will reach out to over three crore families, organise rallies in every district and hold over 250 press conferences across the country to inform masses about the new law.?
Speaking at one such event in Goa, Railways Minister Piyush Goyal said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi¡¯s words on the National Register of Citizens (NRC) should be considered the last word on the subject.¡°I think once the Prime Minister of the country says something, that is the last word. The Prime Minister has categorically clarified. There is no question of NRC, no discussion in the cabinet, no provision for that, no law for that,¡± Goyal said on Friday.Goyal added that there was a general ¡°misunderstanding¡± about CAA, and that ¡°propaganda¡± fuelled by the Congress was being spread. ¡°Our children are being misled,¡± he added.?
¡°No one will lose their nationality. Only those who are persecuted on account of their religion have sought refuge in India. Those who came till December 13, 2014, they have been assured citizenship by this amendment,¡± the minister said.?