He categorically said that there had been no discussions on “the word NRC” (National Register of Citizens) during his five-year-old tenure. Interestingly Amit Shah till a couple of days back day had repeatedly claimed that the citizenship amendment would be followed by a countrywide NRC update to identify and expel “ghuspethiyas (infiltrators)”.

Apparently he was resorting to his old practice of telling lies to defuse the crisis. It is widely known that Modi cannot divorce Amit Shah, obviously this must not be construed as an action against him. It was primarily aimed as assuaging the hurt feelings of the people. Throughout his two hour speech Modi not even for once said that his government would not invoke a nationwide NRC.

It would not be proper to describe his speech as a sign of panic, in fact it underlined that he was getting ready for a fresh assault on the democratic institutions of the country. At the rally he talked about many things and issues, but the important points he made were call to the people to accept the supremacy of parliament and to respect the police force.

Modi lauded the role of the police in protecting public life and property, he even showed his concern for the policemen got injured in the violent protest, but he deliberately refrained from mentioning about the 25 odd people killed in the violence across the country. In UP alone nearly 18 persons have been killed. Leave aside paying condolences to these persons, speaking anything about them would have angered the police.

His ignoring the persons killed in UP and other states explicitly implied that he endorsed the version of the DGP of UP that these persons were killed in cross firing notwithstanding the fact that some policemen were caught on camera firing from their revolvers. But what about the people killed in Assam and Mangaluru? His prevarication and refusing to face the truth simply taken as a clear endorsement of Shah’s stated position, in Parliament and out on the public stage.

Modi’s consistent thrust on the supremacy of parliament ought to be seen in the backdrop of public attack and criticism that he has been subverting and gagging the Constitution. With the attack mounting on the government for distorting the Constitution by introducing the concept of religious citizenship, Modi has resorted to damage control strategy.

Everywhere across the country the people have been decrying this move of the government. The government faces the major challenge to its claim of credibility. Once the people lose their trust on what the government says, then in that case it would have to face the crisis to win over the trust of the people. Modi throughout his speech did not mention about the repeated assertion by Shah to have NRC in place soon. While speaking in the Lok Sabha during the passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, Shah had said a countrywide NRC would indeed be implemented.

This has become inevitable with nearly several states, including two ruled by BJP allies, taking an opposition stand. Nitish Kumar’s JDU and the Shiromani Akali Dal have openly opposed the NRC. Almost all the chief ministers have described the CA ACT and NRC as anti-Constitution. Obviously this was putting federal functioning under severe strain. Little doubt implementing would have adverse impact on the federal relations and norms.

Modi took sarcastic jibes at the opposition about their apprehensions of detention camps and emphatically denied this. But the fact remains that detention camps have been operating in Assam and directives from the Centre to many states have been sent to open such facilities. He accused the Congress and “urban Naxals” of spreading lies about Muslims being sent to detention centres. The fact remains that at the directives from Shah the Modi government had taken a obstinate position on dragging the entire nation under the NRC blanket.

Absence of Shah at such an important rally has been quite intriguing. The only plausible reason would have been with Shah at the rally the people would not have subscribed to Modi’s clarification. How could the people forget Shah’s assertion that government does intend to conduct a nationwide NRC with an eye on “throwing out every single infiltrator”.

Modi desperately tried to come clean on the issue which is why evaded by saying the NRC was initiated under Congress rule and that neither Parliament nor his cabinet had framed any rules for a countrywide update. “I want to tell the 130 crore Indians that from 2014 till now, nowhere there has been any discussions or talk on the word ‘NRC’. It has been done only in Assam, on a directive from the Supreme Court,” he said. But the fact is on June 20, making his address to the joint Houses of Parliament, President Ram Nath Kovind had said the government would take up the NRC exercise on a “priority basis” to tackle the problem of illegal infiltrators.(IPA Service)