Eros TimesNew Delhi:EROS TIMES: The Delhi Assembly passed a resolution against the National Population Register and the National Register of Citizens at the one-day special session conducted here on Friday.
Highlighting the atmosphere of fear and uncertainty brought about by the Centre’s decision to implement NPR and NRC, Deputy Chief Minister, Manish Sisodia said,” If I am unable to furnish the required birth certificate which would have been made at the time of my birth , the officers have been given the power to mark me as doubtful.
And after that they can easily declare me as a Bangladeshi.
They will refuse to accept my name as Manish Sisodia and my father’s name as Dharampal Singh Sisodia.
Then they will send me to a detention centre.
That’s why I am afraid. That’s why the people of Delhi that I am representing today are afraid because the Central govt will not just remove their names from the voters list but also swipe them away from their own homes.”
Explaining the Act further which entails the documents to produced by a person, the Deputy CM said, “I have always considered myself a patriotic Indian since I was a child.
I am proud that I am one of the 134 crore Indians.
When census data is recorded and officers visit our home to note down our name, I feel proud for being a part of India and for being a citizen of this country.
I proudly asked the officers to record my name, my wife’s name and my son’s name as well.
But now the Central government is coming up with the national population register.
The condition given for your name to be included in the population register is that you should prove that you’re a citizen of India.
I read the Act, and also read what NPR has to say about citizenship. Section 3 says that any person can be a citizen of India by birth if he or she fulfills the criteria , I’m saying this in a decoded, informal language,
– if born between 26th Jan, 1950 to 1987, birth certificate will do.
-if born after 1987 but before 2003, his/her birth certificate and one of his/her parents’ birth certificate is needed
-if born after 2003, his/her birth certificate and both his/her parents birth certificate is needed. if he or she has birth certificate of only one of his parents then he or she has to prove that his other parent was not living in India, illegally. I have just tried to decode and explain the law in simpler terms.”
Criticizing the Centre for coming up with a law that would create an atmosphere of utter fear, Dy Cm added, “So I thought to myself that I would furnish details of my citizenship by showing documents like my passport, my educational certificates, my Aadhar card or my voter ID card.
But then I heard recent interview by our honorable Union Home minister who clearly said that aadhar card or voter ID card or passport will not be treated as a proof of our citizenship.
Only birth certificate will be taken as a proof of citizenship.
This law leaves us in an atmosphere of uncertainty and looming fear, and I’m saying this not only for the public but also for those who represent the public.
It says that and I quote -the Population register means the register containing details of the persons usually residing in that area/village/kasba etc…The particulars collected of every family and individual in the Population register shall be verified and scrutinized by the local register. Now if you ask me details about my origin, I would tell you about my roots from Uttar Pradesh where my father and ancestors hailed from. But then they will ask me to get ut verified, how will I do that ?
You won’t accept my passport, pan card, Aadhar card, voter Id card, my educational certificates which prove which schools and colleges I studied at, so how will I be able to get it verified? The law says…During the verification process, particulars of such individuals whose citizenship is doubtful shall be entered by the local registrar with remark in the population register.”
He concluded his address with this apt poetry, “kaha se laun wo kagaz jo
Badh ke pani me beh gye
Jo jhuggi ki aag me jal gye
Jo kapdo Samet choohe kutar gye
Meri pehchan meri gareebi hai
Jo kisi kaagaz pe utari hi nahi
Kahan se laaun wo pehchan jo kisi kagaz pe utari hi nai.”
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