Amit Shah urges Pinarayi, Mamata to rethink decision to stop NPR

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has urged Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to re-think on their decision to stop work on the National Population Register (NPR).

"I am urging them not to take such a step. They should rethink," he said in an exclusive interview with news agency ANI.

Shah said NPR is the base of welfare programmes for poor in Kerala and West Bengal. "And stopping work on the register will exclude poor people out of developmental programmes," he said.

Shah also said there is no link between NPR and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). "The information obtained through NPR cannot be used for NRC. Both the processes are separate," he said.

This is the first clarification from Shah on the NRC, NPR.

The country has been witnessing several protests over NRC and Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The comments posted here/below/in the given space are not on behalf of Onmanorama. The person posting the comment will be in sole ownership of its responsibility. According to the central government's IT rules, obscene or offensive statement made against a person, religion, community or nation is a punishable offense, and legal action would be taken against people who indulge in such activities.