CPI(M) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on December 23

CLEARLY rattled by the intensity of popular protests across the country against the CAA/NRC/NPR and the declaration by at least ten chief ministers that they will not implement the NRC, PM Modi unleashed yesterday at Delhi a bundle of untruths aimed at misleading the people.

Lie No. 1: He said: “I want to tell the 130 crore citizens of India that since my government has come to power, since 2014, there has been no discussion on NRC anywhere….”

•       BJP’s 2019 election manifesto promised the NRC all over the country.
•       Home Minister Amit Shah, during the debate on CAB in the Lok Sabha on November 9, said, “We will bring the NRC across the country. Not a single infiltrator will be spared.”
•       The NRC process is to begin with the compilation of the National Population Register from April 1 to September 30, 2020. The NPR is the first stage of NRC.  The gazette notification for this was issued on July 31, 2019.

Lie No. 2: Modi said: “There are no detention centres anywhere”.

•       Minister of state for home affairs answered a question in the Rajya Sabha on December 11 and said that instructions have been issued to all states for setting up detention centres to detain illegal migrants or convicted foreigners pending deportation. The central government on January 9, 2019 sent consolidated instructions for the construction of detention centres to all state/union administrators.
•       Central government told the Karnataka High Court on November 28, “We have written to all state governments in 2014 and follow-up letter in 2018 to have detention centres to house foreign nationals illegally staying in India”.
•       In November 2019, minister of state for home affairs replied to a question in the Rajya Sabha that 28 people have died in Assam’s detention camps where suspected immigrants are confined. He disclosed that 988 “foreigners” were lodged in six detention centres in Assam.
•       The ministry of home affairs sent instructions on April 24/29, 2014 and again on September 9-10, 2014. On this basis, a model detention centre/holding centre/camp manual was issued to all states/union territories in 2018.
•       Many BJP state governments like Karnataka have already directed construction of detention centres.

Lie No. 3: Modi said: “I never asked for anyone’s religion”.

•       In a recent election rally in Dumka, Jharkhand, Modi said that those indulging in violence can be identified by their clothes.
•       During the 2019 general elections, Modi said that Rahul Gandhi has chosen to contest from Wayanad, Kerala “a seat where the majority is in minority”.

Through such a bunch of lies, Modi seeks to mislead the people over their assault on the secular-democratic content of the Indian constitution.

During his 90 minute long speech, Modi did not mention even once the growing miseries that his government and policies are imposing on people’s day-to-day life. The economy is in a virtual recession, unemployment is highest in half a century. Distress suicides by farmers growing, inflation eating into the people’s lives – people have stopped eating onions due to its exorbitant price.  Clearly, Modi government’s only agenda is to sharpen communal polarisation and divide our people through the spread of hate and violence.

The protests against the CAA/NRC/NPR will continue until an official notification is issued to stop the ongoing process.