"We were enumerating the 'usual residents' of the country," P Chidambaram said
Congress leader P Chidambaram today accused the government of pursuing a "different and dangerous" version of the NPR or National Population Register, a day after the ruling BJP tweeted an old video of him speaking on the NPR when he was Home Minister.
"The BJP-led government has a larger and more sinister agenda and that is why the NPR approved by them yesterday is very dangerous and different in terms of the TEXT as well as the CONTEXT of NPR 2010," Mr Chidambaram said in a series of tweets on Thursday.
Yesterday, the BJP's Amit Malviya had tweeted a video of Mr Chidambaram listing the benefits of the NPR and had accused the Congress of hypocrisy as it was protesting against an exercise it launched when the party was in power.
"I am happy that the BJP has released a video clip of the launch of NPR in 2010. Please listen to the video. We were enumerating the 'usual residents' of the country. The emphasis is on residency not citizenship," Mr Chidambaram hit back.
He said every "usual resident" was to be enumerated irrespective of religion or place of birth. "The NPR aided the preparation of the Census of 2011. There was no mention of NRC," wrote Mr Chidambaram.
The NRC or National Register for Citizens is an exercise to identify illegal migrants, which was carried out in Assam following a Supreme Court order. The opposition alleges that along with the new citizenship law, NRC can be used to target Muslims.
"If the BJP's motives are bonafide, let the Government unconditionally state that they support the NPR form and design of 2010 and have no intention of linking it to the controversial NRC," posted the former union minister, who was recently granted bail after being jailed in a corruption case for over 100 days.
Home Minister Amit Shah has emphasized that there is no link between the NPR and NRC.
However, states like Bengal and Kerala have stopped work on the NPR alleging its data will be used for the NRC and will target mainly Muslims.
The nationwide NPR approved by the government on Tuesday requires people to declare the "date and place of birth of both parents" for the first time. This data was not collected for the NPR in 2010, many have pointed out.
Under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, for people born after 1987, at least one parent must be a citizen. Critics raise the possibility that the parents' date and place of birth would be needed if a nationwide NRC is carried out.
The CAA is the first law to make religion a criterion for Indian citizenship. The government says the CAA will help non-Muslims minorities who fled religious persecution in Muslim-dominated Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh get Indian citizenship easily.
However, critics say the law discriminates blatantly against Muslims and so, is completely against secular principles enshrined in the constitution of India.