Declare no NRC in Congress-ruled states, Prashant Kishor tells Rahul Gandhi

While thanking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for joining the citizens' movement against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC), JD(U) vice-president and election strategist Prashant Kishor called upon the Gandhi scion to "impress upon the Congress President to officially announce that there will be No NRC in the Congress-ruled states."

Taking to Twitter, Kishor further said, "Rather than trying to inform me what Congress CMs have said please share the OFFICIAL statement of the Congress President announcing that there will no NRC in Congress-ruled states. I am sorry voting against CAB didn't stop it, states saying NO to NRC will. So don't get confused."

The JD(U) leader's statement comes a day after the Congress joined the protests against the new citizenship law and the NRC in a big way, with its entire top leadership led by party chief Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, holding a satyagraha at Raj Ghat.

Kishor's tweet, however, drew criticism from Gaurav Gogoi, Congress MP from Assam. "Amazing to see this tweet being adopted by a party that voted to make CAA a law in the Parliament. Wish @PrashantKishor was more successful in convincing his party to be consistent. Still thanks, better later than never," Gogoi tweeted.

Kishor has been vocal in his criticism about the amended citizenship law and the proposed nationwide NRC, stating that "NRC with CAB is dangerous and discriminatory".

Prashant Kishor, who nudged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to take a position against the NRC, had earlier also urged other Opposition chief ministers especially those from Congress to take a clear position on the NRC. Talking to The Indian Express, he said: "It is important for the Congress leadership to announce that Congress-ruled states will not implement CAA-NRC under any circumstances."

The JD(U) leader had also criticised his party for supporting the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament and had even said that the idea of a nationwide NRC is equivalent to "demonetisation of citizenship", which is "invalid" until proved. Kishor made the remark in an apparent reference to the Narendra Modi government's decision to scrap overnight Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes in 2016.

The CMs of Opposition-ruled states Andhra Pradesh's Jagan Mohan Reddy, West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Punjab's Amarinder Singh, Chhattisgarh's Bhupesh Baghel and Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan have already opposed both the CAB and NRC.

(Inputs from The Indian Express and Image from