The two-time Rajya Sabha MP said that now persons seeking inclusion in the NRP will have to mention the date and place of birth of their parents if they were born outside India.
(Image: Facebook/@PradipBhattacharyaINC)
Labelling the NPR as a “divisive and dangerous” exercise, former PCC chief Pradip Bhattacharya said today that new provisions were added to it by the ruling party at the Centre to give it a distinctly communal tinge to attain the party’s ends. The two-time Rajya Sabha MP said that now persons seeking inclusion in the NRP will have to mention the date and place of birth of their parents if they were born outside India.
What adds a communal bent to this provision is the mode of recall if somebody does not remember the date of birth of his/her parents’ birth, Bhattacharya said. “He/she will be asked to mention the approximate time of the year when his/her parents were born and specify whether this time span is before holding a Hindu religious festival or thereafter,” he contended. “But a Muslim is not being afforded any such opportunity if he/she cannot meet these criteria stated in the NPR,” Bhattacharya claimed.
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“There is no mention of any Muslim religious festival,” he further claimed. “Many Muslims fled to India from the then East Pakistan to escape the atrocities of ‘razakars,’ who persecuted both Hinds and Muslims of Bengali origin when the War of Liberation of Bangaldesh took place in 1971,” Bhattacharya, who was a young Congress leader then, recalled.
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“These persons were given shelter by the then government,” he said.“Many of them have returned to Bangladesh after the Pakistani army surrendered to India,” he said. “But pushing those persons back, who have chosen to stay in India, would be a crime against humanity and a violation of the Constitution as well,” Bhattacharya said.
“The founding fathers of the nation promised shelter to those facing persecution,” he said. “How can the ruling party at the Centre go for a violation of the Constitution,” Bhattacharya asked. “After all, both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah cannot forego their allegiance to the Constitution,” he added.
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