‘Nationwide NRC Has No Justification, No Question Of It In Bihar,’ Says Nitish Kumar

"No question of NRC in Bihar. It was in discussions only in the context of Assam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also clarified on it," said Kumar in the state assembly.

Image: PTI

New Delhi: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday flat out refused to introduce the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Bihar and dubbed it as ‘needless’ for the state. He said that there was "no question" or need to implement it in Bihar. His remarks came on the floor of the state assembly while thanking the House members for unanimously approving a constitutional amendment for extending quotas to SCs and STs by another 10 years. "No question of NRC in Bihar. It was in discussions only in the context of Assam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also clarified on it," said Kumar in the state assembly. RJD’s Tejashwai Yadav had earlier asked Kumar (a BJP ally) to clear his stance on the Citizenship Amendment Act and the NRC. Kumar said he wondered from where did the talk of NRC sprung up? “The country is witnessing huge turmoil on these issues (CAA, NRC and NPR), we should keep in mind that NRC was an exercise confined to Assam as part of the accord signed by the Rajiv Gandhi government,” he said. He said a nationwide NRC would be needless and has no justification. We do not think any such thing is going to take place. I think the prime minister, too, has spoken clearly on this, he added. He asserted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clarified his stance on the exercise. At a rally in Delhi's Ramlila Maidan on December 22 last year, Modi had said that the central government had no discussions of conducting a nationwide NRC. Earlier on Sunday, JDU’s vice-president Prashant Kishor thanked the Congress party and its leadership for their "formal and unequivocal rejection" of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and NRC. (inputs from agencies)