Nitish Kumar Says No To NRC In Bihar As He Calls For CAA Debate In State Assembly

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has finally broken his silence on the CAA controversy. During a special session of the Bihar State Assembly, Nitish Kumar openly stated that there would be no NRC in the state. “A nationwide NRC would be needless (koi zarurat nahin hai) and has no justification (koi auchitya nahin hai). We do not think any such thing is going to take place. I think the prime minister, too, has spoken clearly on this,” Nitish Kumar said on the floor of the House. More importantly, Kumar also made a statement on the CAA issue. Amid the protests by the Opposition members, the Bijhar Chief Minister said that should there be a consensus, he is open to the idea of debating the CAA in the Bihar state Assembly.

This is the first time that Nitish Kumar has made a statement on the issue that has sparked massive protests across India. Interestingly his Deputy and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had announced the dates of NPR in Bihar. Modi had said that the update process of the National Population Register (NPR) will be carried out in the state from May 15 to May 28 this year, notwithstanding the West Bengal and Kerala governments' decision to put the exercise on hold in their respective states. The process of preparing NPR began in 2010 during the UPA regime which was completed between April 1 to September 30 that year, he said while addressing media on January 4.

Pavan Varma’s Open Letter

After this, Nitish Kumar’s confidant Pavan Varma had written an open letter demanding the Bihar Chief Minister to take a stand on the CAA issue. "You have always stood for a secular India... It is for this reason that I appealed to you to reconsider the party's support to the divisive and discriminatory CAB. I was deeply disappointed when my request went unheeded," the letter read. “I am greatly surprised that Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi has unilaterally announced that the NPR will be carried out in Bihar…Since, you have said that Bihar will not have the NRC, it follows that you must say no to the revised NPR as well,” Varma wrote in the letter.

Prashant Kishor’s rebellion on Twitter

Earlier, senior JDU leader Prashant Kishor had voiced his strong opinion against the citizenship laws. Kishor has been tweeting against the Citizenship Act and the NRC consistently. Kishore had tweeted against the NRC. “The argument that no nationwide #NRC has been ANNOUNCED is not convincing as it is not the SAME as clearly stating that there will be No #NRC,” he had said on the micro-blogging site.