CAA part of a malevolent project: Teesta

Kozhikode: Activist and author Teesta Setalvad said that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), NRC (National Register for Citizens) and NPR (National Population Register) were part of a malevolent project which targeted not just Muslims but also adivasis, dalits, migrant labourers and nomadic tribes in India. While inaugurating the anti-fascist declaration organised at Corporation Stadium on Wednesday, Teesta said that the proposed NPR was nothing short of the base which will be converted into NRC.

She said that in the NPR exercise done by UPA in 2010, the place and date of birth of one's parents were not asked as proposed in the upcoming NPR.

It is an attempt to conduct a citizenship process through the backdoor with subordinate legislation. According to UNICEF, India had birth registration of just 52% in 2017. The country has a migrant population of 350 million without permanent address. This applies to eight crore adivasis and the forest-dwelling population, she said.

''Citizenship establishes my relationship with the country of my birth. A document cannot be the proof of that existence because if a document become the test, then this country will be doing nothing for 25-30 years except being caught in this social turmoil which is the government's making," she added.