Mahatma Gandhi's great grandson Tushar Gandhi on Sunday said that the National Population Register and National Register of Citizens were a real danger and would lead to the poor bearing the brunt.
Participating in an event organised by the People's Platform Against Fascism in Chennai where Muslim groups have been agitating since Saturday night, he also said that those protesting against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and NPR and NRC had been painted as Muslims and people must be worried about the amount of ‘hatred that has been inculcated in the society.’
He alleged that the CAA was the first official act of the government which was discriminatory and went against the spirit of the Constitution and that the NRC and the NPR were the real dangers.
“The rich will not be affected. the poor in our cities and the poor in the villages are the ones who are going to face the brunt of the promulgation of those two procedures which the government is so keen to implement,” he said.
The rural poor and uneducated masses would be made to run from pillar to post just to satisfy the government official who would decide their Constitutional right, he said.
Without naming anyone, he said: “Look at how subtly they have divided us. Without making any attempt they have turned the CAA, NRC protests into us versus them.”
“They have turned (the protests) into a Hindu versus Muslim. They have managed to convey to the people of India that the agitating people are Muslims,” he said.
Alleging that people's minds had been poisoned, he added “that is something we should be worried about and that is something we should resist and fight against.”
On the continuing protests against CAA, NRC and the NPR, he said the country still lived in its villages and any 'revolution' that has to succeed must transcend the cities and go to the villages.