Bhubaneswar: After raising voice against the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) & National Register of Citizens (NRC), senior Congress leader and Jatni MLA Sura Routray slammed the central government over implementation of National Population Register (NPR) in the country.
Sura said, "We'll go to every panchayat, every block in every district of Odisha to create mass awareness against this move of the central government to divide the country in the name of religion."
"India is a secular country. If we can accept Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Jains from other countries, then we should accept Muslim refugees too."
"If India won't accept Muslim refugees then where will they go?" Sura further said.
Commenting on Center's proposal of updating the NPR, Sura said, "It's false propaganda like NRC. People won't accept it, and it will never be implemented."
However, Senior BJP leader and General Secretary of party's Odisha unit, Prithviraj Harichandan criticized the Congress party for hyperventilating over NPR and CAA.
Harichandan said, "We condemn the malicious intent of Congress party to mislead people against CAA and their evil designs to incite protests in the country. CAA is a provision to provide Indian citizenship to the minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who are victims of religious persecution. Muslims are neither minorities in those countries nor they are victims of religious persecution. So CAA doesn't include Muslims."
"We will reach out to more than 1 crore people in Odisha and educate them about CAA. We'll tell them that it's not at all a law of exclusion rather it is inclusive. So no Indian citizen should worry about being affected by CAA."
Speaking about NPR, Harichandan said, "The process of NPR started during the Congress regime. They didn't have the audacity to implement the same because of vote bank politics. If BJP is now implementing it, they shouldn't object to it."
Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, in an event at AIIMS in Bhubaneswar said, "Congress is misleading & inciting people over CAA. We will start a mass awareness campaign to reach out to 3 crore households in India and educate them about CAA"