NDA government tinkered with law related to NPR: Mamata

Accusing the BJP-led NDA government of having tinkered with the law related to the National Population Register exercise, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said her government stayed the work for updating it as she did not want to do anything that could put people in trouble.

"I had said we will carry out the NPR exercise. I genuinely believed it was part of Census. It would be needed for ration card, or for the sake of storing the information etc.

"But then I saw the law concerned has been amended. Then why should I do it?" Banerjee said at an official programme in Naihati of North 24 Parganas district.

On December 16, the state government stayed the ongoing work for preparing and updating the NPR against the backdrop of virulent protests against the new citizenship law.

In the order, the government asked the Commissioners of Howrah and Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the District Magistrates to stay "all activities" related to the NPR.

The directive was issued by the Additional Secretary, Home and Hill Affairs Department.

Explaining the government action, Banerjee said: "I am not going to do anything which may put people in trouble. My party and my government is also not going to do any such thing.

"We will help the government, as much as we can. Why should we snatch the rights from people?".

The Left, which has hit the streets in protest against the NRC and CAA, had also trained its guns at the NPR exercise in the state, and demanded it be stopped forthwith. The Left parties had been attacking Banerjee and her government on the NPR exercise, claiming it was linked to the NRC.IANS