In Haryana, NRC just a loud thought

Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 16

A day after Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Haryana with Justice (Retd) HS Bhalla on board, the latter today said the idea was just a loud thought so far and the blueprint of the NRC was yet to come up.

Justice Bhalla, a former chairman of the Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC), said that though the CM had discussed the issue with him on Sunday, people would have to wait for some time for the finer details of the proposed NRC.

“From my discussions with the CM, I have gathered that the Haryana Government wants to provide identity cards to all families in the state. Assam is the only state in the country to have implemented the NRC so far, where the issue of foreigners is a cause for concern. Haryana does not seem to have any such issue. The discussion the CM had with me on this issue yesterday was more of a loud thought. So, wait for sometime before I am able to provide the exact contours of Haryana’s plans,” said Justice Bhalla.

Contacted by The Tribune today, Khattar said the issue of foreign nationals settled in various parts of the country was a cause for concern for all states, and not merely for some.

“Though the number of foreign nationals in Haryana is not very large, but still we need to have in place a mechanism to identify them. This is an issue of national security and safety,” Khattar added.

The Opposition parties in Haryana, however, are not amused with Khattar’s announcement, as most of them have termed this as a ploy to divert attention from real issues. State Congress president Kumari Selja today alleged that the BJP government in the state had no other issues to talk about, hence it had raised this issue.

“During their five years in office, they have done nothing which they can talk about during the elections.People want jobs, development and business and not the NRC,” Selja added. 

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda asked: “If the BJP government wants to put in place a mechanism for this purpose now, were they sleeping all these five years?”

Dushyant Chautala, convener of the JJP, however, welcomed the announcement, though he said it was needed more in Punjab, J&K, Bihar and other states sharing boundaries with other countries.