NPR, NRC will be more detrimental to poor people than demonetisation: Rahul Gandhi

Slamming the government, Rahul said, "The whole drama which is going on (regarding NPR and NRC) is demonetisation part two. Forget about demonetisation, the NPR and NRC will be more disastrous. It will ask all poor people to prove their nationality but the 15 crony capitalists won't require to prove it."

Rahul said this ahead of his rally in Assam's Guwahati on the 135th foundation day of Congress on Saturday.

In a similar attack on the Modi government a day ago, the Congress leader had said, "NRC and NPR are like tax on poor people."

"Like demonetisation, NRC, NPR are attacks on poor people. These steps are like demonetisation which took all money from poor people and benefited the 15 rich people," the former Congress president said at a rally in Raipur on Friday.

Though Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Kerala, Mamata Banerjee and Pinarayi Vijayan respectively, have already put on hold all works regarding the NPR in their states, the Centre on Tuesday sanctioned Rs. 3,941.35 crore for the updation of the process.

Rejecting the Opposition's claims that NPR is a step towards the nationwide NRC, the Centre said the two are not linked.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, making a U-turn from their previous statements, have said the union cabinet has never discussed NRC since the time the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014.

(Image Credit: Rahul Gandhi Twitter)