The Population Register was expected to lay groundwork for rolling out a citizens' list. (File)
Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who promised on Monday afternoon that the new Citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens would be implemented in the state only over her "dead body", took strong action by the evening, officially stopping work on the National Population Register.
"All activities regarding the preparation/updation of the National Population Register (NPR) are hereby stayed in West Bengal. No activity regarding NRP may be taken up without prior clearance from the Govt. of West Bengal." read the order sent from the Secretariat.
The Population Register was expected to lay the groundwork for rolling out a citizens' list in the future -- one of the key goals of the Centre - to weed out illegal migrants from the country.
The government's order to the civic bodies and district magistrates comes amid furore over the Centre's new citizenship law. Bengal is one of the three states that has refused to implement the law, through the Centre has said that the states have no choice in the matter.
About the citizens' list, Union minister Amit Shah has repeatedly underscored the centre's goal to take it across the country since its introduction in Assam.
During the day, Ms Banerjee had led a mammoth rally against the citizenship law, which expedites the grant of citizenship for non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have been living in India after being driven out due to religious persecution.
The opposition contends that the law flies in the face of the Right to equality granted by the constitution.
"As long as I am alive, I will never implement the citizenship law or NRC in the state. You can very well dismiss my government or put me behind bars but I will never implement this black law," the Chief Minister said. "If they want to implement it in Bengal they will have to do it over my dead body," Ms Banerjee added.