Sushil Kumar Modi said states have no power not to implement the amended law on citizenship
Bihar BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Saturday said no chief minister can refuse to implement the amended citizenship law. Mr Modi, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister, said there is no question of discussing the issue of National Register of Citizens (NRC) as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear that the government had never discussed it.
"NPR and NRC are two different things," Mr Modi told reporters in Patna, adding the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) are responsible for the "confusion" over the National Population Register (NPR), NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
"No state including West Bengal, Kerala, Rajasthan can refuse to implement the CAA or NPR as the centre has the power to bring legislation over citizenship. Preparing the NPR is a statutory provision which no state can refuse to implement," Mr Modi said.
"No chief ministers, even if he or she is opposed to CAA and NPR, can refuse to implement them. Neither West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee nor Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan can say that they won't implement NPR in their states. They can say anything for public consumption. But they can't say no to CAA and NPR... A census director in each state has already been appointed, including in West Bengal," Mr Modi said.
The process of preparing the NPR began in 2010 during the UPA regime, which was completed between April 1 and September 30 that year, Mr Modi said. The centre is just "updating" the NPR 2010 in 2020 before the 2021 census, he added.
The NPR process in 2020 will be carried out between April 1 and September 30 in the country. In Bihar, it will be done between May 15 and May 28, Mr Modi said. Administrative and punitive action will be taken against officials if they refused to carry out NPR, he added.