Modi Government Is Not Foolish To Penalise Crores Of People Over NPR: P Chidambaram

Former Finance Minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday said that the Narendra Modi government will not do something foolish like penalising crores of people who won't cooperate in the National Population Register (NPR) exercise, scheduled to start from April 1, 2020.

"I hope not. You will have to penalize crores of people. I believe the Modi government will not do something so foolish," Chidambaram told reporters in Kolkata when asked if there is any provision in the law to penalise someone for not cooperating when NPR and census exercises are conducted.

Chidambaram defended the West Bengal government over its decision to not implement NPR in the Bengal, saying that the state is entitled to cite law and order situation and people's opposition for not being able to roll out the NPR on April 1.

"The state (Bengal) is perfectly justified in questioning the constitutional validity of CAA. The state is also entitled to cite law and order situation, widespread opposition among people, the reluctance of state government employees engaged in the exercise and the problems they will encounter at households who do not respond and shut the door. These are very legitimate reasons why the state can tell the Centre that it (NPR) can’t be rolled out on April 1," he said.

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Earlier on Friday, Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai met representatives from all states to "seek their cooperation" in rolling out the Census 2021 and NPR exercise. No representative from West Bengal attended the meeting as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already announced that NPR will not be implemented in the state.

Chidambaram also sought to defend the Congress-ruled states for sending their representatives to attend the meeting, saying that "participation doesn't mean acquiescence".

"When the central government invites officers of state governments to state their cases why NPR should be ruled out, the officers go and attend the meeting to find out what the views of the census commissioner are and place on the table why they are opposing NPR. That is the correct thing to do," said Chidambaram.