Nationwide NRC push? Why RSS wants it and why Owaisi calls it ‘100 times worse’ than SIR amid Oppn-Gyanesh Kumar row

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has called for a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC). The Sangh, which is an ideological fountainhead of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has said that identifying citizens was necessary to address “population imbalance” and protect the country’s “unity, integrity and security”.

“When solutions (to population imbalance) are discussed, it is said there should be a National Register of Citizens (NRC),” RSS publicity in-charge Sunil Ambekar was quoted as saying while speaking at an event at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) on Wednesday, 30 September.

Ambedkar, as reported by Indian Express, said there was a need to identify people who had been “wrongly included” in electoral rolls and to ensure citizenship for those who had come to India from neighbouring countries under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

His remarks came amid a massive political row over the functioning of the Election Commission following a report by The Indian Express, which said that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months regarding decisions and procedures related to the Special Intensive Review exercise.

In support of his argument, Ambedkar said India’s partition was due to a population imbalance. He added that in our neighbouring countries that became Islamic states after 1947, many people who were left behind were from SC/ST and economically weaker sections and they continued to face persecution.

“For those who have come back, ensuring their citizenship through CAA is necessary. Identifying such people through the NRC is necessary. If people have been wrongly included in the voter list, it is necessary to identify them,” he said.

What is NRC?

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a government register intended to contain the details of people recognised as Indian citizens. An NRC was prepared in 1951, following the Census of that year. The exercise was subsequently given particular importance in Assam because of concerns over migration and the Assam Accord of 1985.

The NRC has not featured in the political agenda after nationwide protests against the CAA and the proposed NRC in 2019-20. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in December 2019 that his government had not discussed the NRC since coming to power, while the BJP subsequently dropped the proposal from its 2024 election manifesto.

However, a debate around NRC has renewed with the ongoing Census exercise. The Census questionnaire contains several questions that were also part of the 2020 NPR (National Population Register) schedule, including nationality and details of parents, Aadhaar and voter ID. The statutory framework provides for verification of the Population Register for preparation of the National Register of Indian Citizens, including identification of cases where citizenship may be considered doubtful.

The government has not officially announced anything about a nationwide NRC. The NPR exercise, which had been scheduled alongside the 2021 Census, was postponed during the Covid-19 pandemic and was not re-notified when the Census process was revived.

Why is Assam different?

Assam has a special NRC process under the Citizenship Rules. The updated Assam NRC used documents and records establishing a person's presence in Assam, or that of an ancestor, on or before 24 March 1971. These included the 1951 NRC and electoral rolls up to that date, along with specified supporting documents.

The RSS has for years maintained that a nationwide NRC should be carried out. In 2019, then RSS general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi had said it was the government’s responsibility to prepare an NRC to identify those who were not Indian citizens. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat subsequently said in 2021 that the NRC was intended to determine who were genuine citizens and should not be viewed as a Hindu-Muslim issue.

AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was a “backdoor NRC”, claiming that the exercise would eventually be used as a basis for implementing the NRC.

Many opposition leaders, including former Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has also linekd SIR with NRC.

Owaisi said that the issue of standing “shoulder-to-shoulder” with other parties would be decided in the future, but reiterated his opposition to the SIR exercise.

“Whether we stand shoulder-to-shoulder or not is a matter for the future. However, we have been saying from the very beginning that SIR is a 'backdoor NRC'. I reiterate that the country's Home Minister has constituted a commission—headed by a retired Supreme Court judge—tasked with examining the demographic changes in areas where the final NRC was implemented; the Home Minister has stated that they will review the final NRC list,” Owaisi told ANI.

'100 times worse than SIR'

Amid speculation of talks regarding a nationwide NRC, Owaisi had earlier said that NRC would be “100 times worse.” The Hyderabad MP alleged that the exercise had already caused immense trouble, particularly to minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and migrants.

“NRC is going to be 100 times worse. We’ve already seen how disastrous the NRC has been in Assam. It has caused immense trouble, especially for minorities, SC/STs and migrants,” Owaisi said in a post on X.

Owais said the NRC would force everyone to stand in line and prove their citizenship and questioned how people dependent on ration for food would be able to find documents and establish their citizenship.

“NRC will force everyone to stand in line and prove their citizenship. In a country where 80 crore people depend on ration for food, you want them to find documents and prove their citizenship? To what end?” he said.

Owaisi alleged that the government wanted people to remain at the mercy of government officials during the process.

\"NRC is going to be 100 times worse. We’ve already seen how disastrous the NRC has been in Assam.\" - Asaduddin Owaisi

“We are now seeing a tragedy play out with SIR, wherein ordinary people are being forced to attend hearings with documents,” he said.