Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged citizens of Uttar Pradesh, which has witnessed several protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), to help maintain public properties instead of destroying them. Speaking in Lucknow at a function at the Lok Bhawan, Modi asked people to not heed rumours. “I request and tell these protesters that if good roads, facilities, and a clean sewerage system is a citizen’s right, maintaining them correctly is their responsibility as well,” he said. “People who damaged public property and were involved in violence in the name of protest in UP should introspect if what they did was right.”
Modi earlier unveiled a statue of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee at the Lok Bhawan and also laid the foundation stone for the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University in the Uttar Pradesh capital. The state government has given 50 acres of land for the varsity.
Days after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath promised to recover losses from those involved in violence during protests against the new citizenship law, the Rampur district administration initiated the process for recovery of the damage to government property such as police motorcycles and barriers.
In notices issued to 28 people, the administration has sought explanation on why recoveries should not be made for damage worth Rs 14.86 lakh. The district administration said the notices were issued in line with a state government order based on an earlier ruling of the Allahabad High Court.
Meanwhile, a day after Home Minister Amit Shah agreed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion that there has been no discussion in either the Parliament or the Cabinet about a pan-India National Register of Citizens, the Opposition continued to corner the government over the link between National Population Register and NRC.
On Tuesday, the Centre approved updation of NPR, which seeks to create a comprehensive identity database of every “usual resident” of the country, triggering murmurs that it was the first step towards NRC.
The Opposition soon attacked the government, with Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani calling NPR and NRC “two names of the same bird”, while Trinamool chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called it an attempt to confuse people.
