Plea for stay, NRC clarity The Kerala-based party’s first application asked the NRC-NPR be withheld

TT, 17.01.20,New Delhi: The Indian Union Muslim League on Thursday requested the Supreme Court to freeze any National Register of Citizens or National Population Register exercise and stay the operation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act till it had decided their constitutionality.

The Kerala-based party’s first application, asking the NRC-NPR be withheld, also requested the court to seek clarifications from the government on the likelihood of a nationwide NRC and its possible link with the NPR.

It said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several of his ministers had made contradictory statements on both issues.

In its second application, the League urged the court to stay the operation of the January 10 gazette notification that offers fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim illegal migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan under the amended act.

Both pleas, filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap, are likely to be heard on January 22 when the apex court is to take up a batch of 60-odd petitions challenging the citizenship amendment.

According to the first application, the proposed NRC exercise and the looming NPR update have led to fears of “possible unconstitutional, unlawful and inhumane effects in relation to the (NRC) exercise carried out in Assam”.

According to the second, the July 10 notification violates citizens’ fundamental rights to equality, non-discrimination, and life and liberty. Stressing the urgency of a stay, it cites how, three days after the notification, the Uttar Pradesh government had forwarded to Delhi a list of 40,000 illegal Hindu immigrants to be granted citizenship.

The first application cites what it says are contradictory statements made by ministers about the probability of a countrywide NRC, and about the link between the NRC and the NPR.

It says home minister Amit Shah has declared several times --- for instance, at Bongaon in Bengal on May 1 last year --- that the NRC would be implemented across India.

However, the Prime Minister on December 22 said at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan that his government had never discussed a nationwide NRC, the application adds.

Also, the application says, then junior home minister Kiren Rijiju had told the Rajya Sabha as far back as November 2014 that the NPR was the first step towards the creation of a nationwide NRC.

It quotes Rijiju as saying: “The National Population Register is a register of all the usual residents which include(s) citizens and non-citizens…. The NPR is the first step towards (the) creation of (a) National Register of Indian Citizens by verifying the citizenship status of every usual resident….”

However, it says, two days after Modi’s Ramlila Maidan statement, Shah stated: “There is no link between the National Register of Citizens and the (upcoming) National Population Register.”

The application cites a remark from heavy industries minister Prakash Javadekar de-linking the NPR from the NRC but adds that on December 29, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad made a contrary statement in an interview.

It quotes Prasad as saying that a “proper legal process” will be followed for a nationwide NRC, including consultations with state governments, and that “some” NPR data “may or may not be used” for the NRC.

“Such contradictory statements given by the ministers… are creating widespread confusion and panic…. Therefore the (government) must clarify their stand,” the application says.