NPR should be implemented in Bihar in its 2010 format: Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday said the National Population Register (NPR) should be implemented in the state only in its 2010 format. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of his weekly outreach programme, Kumar said “The Bihar government has already written a letter to the Centre seeking omission of contentious clauses from the NPR forms. We have made it clear that one should not be asked to furnish information like the birthplace of parents as required in the new format”.

Asked to comment on Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s recent statement on implementation of uniform civil code in the BJP-ruled states, Kumar, whose JD(U) is a part of the NDA, said, “He (Shah) is talking about citizenship to minority migrants from three neighbouring countries. He said that this exercise will start once the pandemic ends.

“It is the home ministry’s subject. What can I say on this?” he said.

Kumar said as far as the NPR exercise is concerned, “We had already made it clear that ‘it should be implemented as per the 2010 format”.

The new NPR form has additional questions like the date and place of birth of parents and last residential address of the applicant that had triggered controversy and several opposition parties have protested against it.

Besides Bihar, governments of states like Kerala, West Bengal and Punjab have already objected to the implementation of National Population Register 2020, saying it is a harbinger for a nationwide National Register of Citizens.

Kumar dismissed speculations of a possible reshuffle in Bihar cabinet and said they have no basis. “There will be no reshuffle at all,” the chief minister said to queries by scribes on his meeting with Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan last week.

“Pradhan is my old friend. Earlier, he was a Rajya Sabha member from Bihar. I met him since he was in Patna. There is nothing to speculate at all,” he said.

Sources in JD(U) said that the two leaders had discussed presidential and vice-presidential elections among other things.

Responding to a question on Bihar’s plan to conduct cast-based census in the state after the Centre’s refusal to hold census of castes other than SCs and STs, Kumar iterated “We will soon convene an all party meeting on the issue”.