What is the problem with NRC? asks Defence minister Rajnath Singh

As the BJP led government at the centre continues to face flak over the proposed National register of Citizens (NRC), Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday questioned why there should be objections to it as a country has the right to know how many citizens and foreigners are living in it.

Addressing a rally in Mangaluru, Singh said: “NRC par main kehna chahata hoon. Kya kisi desh ko yeh nahi pata hona chahiye ki desh mein kitne swadeshi hain, kitne videshi hain? NRC agar aa bhi jata hai toh kya pareshani hain?
(On NRC, I want to say, shouldn't every country know how many citizens and foreigners live on its soil? What is the problem if NRC is implemented?)

Defending the Centre, the minister said that it is not the BJP government that initiated the NRC. “NRC naam ki chidiya hum log lekar nahi aaye thhe…. NRC naam ki chidiya Supreme Court ke aadesh par iske pehle Congress ne..," (we did not bring NRC. It was brought by the Congress government at the orders of the Supreme Court), he said, adding that now the blame of this NRC is being laid on BJP.

Singh's statement come weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a rally said that there has been no discussion on NRC yet. Modi made the remarks in December last year in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan. “See if anything has happened on NRC. Lies are being spread. From the time my government came in 2014 till today, there was no discussion on NRC,” the PM had said.

The defence minister also clarified on the recently amended citizenship law, saying that the government came up with CAA to safeguard minorities in the adjoining regions. “Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are not secular states. These are theocratic states. Islam is the religion of these three states. India’s religion is not Hinduism; India is a secular country. That is why those who follow Islam cannot be persecuted in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” he said.

He also asserted that the Muslims from these three countries can get citizenship through due process.

Severe protests have erupted in various parts of the country over the CAA and NRC.