What has actually betrayed the confidence of the people in the government utterances has been its doublespeak, rather lies, on the issue. While the Home Minister Amit Shah only a couple of days back ruled out any link between the NPR and the NRC, and did not outright deny the government statements made on the floor of the parliament that it would not intend to go ahead with NRC.

Notwithstanding assertions of his ministers on several occasions during the last five years on the floor of parliament, the 2018-19 Annual Report of the MHA, released recently, says that NPR is the first step towards implementation of the NRC: “The National Population Register (NPR) is the first step towards the creation of the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) under the provisions of the aforementioned Statute (Citizenship Act)”.

If Amit Shah has been honest in his approach, he would have come out with the official statement that NPR was not related to NRC. Modi says that it more aimed at preparing the census report. It is no that this is for the first time census survey will be taking in the country. The census study is published after every ten year interval. Obviously there is nothing new in it. But no, the fact is the BJP intends to use it for fulfilling its ill-gotten idea of Hindutva.

For the first time the people will have to furnish information about their nationality. While the census “counts” the population and its assets, the NPR records personal details such as name, parents’ names, spouse’s name, gender, date of birth, place of birth, nationality (as declared), present address, permanent residential address, occupation and educational qualification of “usual residents”.

A usual resident is a person who has resided in a local area for the past six months or more or a person who intends to reside in the area for the next six months. The NPR exercise will not be carried out in Assam, where the final NRC had been drawn up in August. A cursory look at the website of the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, under the home ministry also establishes a link between the NPR and the NRC. The homepage has a link to the National Register of Indian Citizens which opens to all the related acts, rules and gazette notifications, and also an introduction and schedule for the NPR.

Though a reference to the NRC in relation to the NPR was made as early as in 2010, when the UPA was in power, it was the Modi dispensation that made the citizen register a high-decibel issue. The Modi government tries to hide the real face of its manoeuvring behind the argument that it was merely carrying out the work launched by the Congress government.

Shah even tried to convince that the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) were governed by different laws and NPR data would never be used for the NRC exercise. If his intentions are honest he should make the government come out with this clarification.

The misinformation the government was spreading and the lies Modi-Shah were speaking makes it explicit that it is more than the political compulsion that these two leaders were resorting to this strategy of falsehood. The Modi government is hell bent to implement it for protecting the RSS.

An insight into the intrigue of Modi-Shah will unravel the unprecedented crisis the RSS was facing. At no stage the RSS was faced with this nature of situation. RSS has reached to such a stage from where it must move ahead keeping its grip on the BJP. An impression has been gaining ground that notwithstanding having saffron government at centre, the RSS was not making significant move towards achieving its mission of strengthening the base for Hindutva and creation of Hindu Rashtra

The RSS leadership nurse the view that the first step in this direction would be to strengthening the Hindu base and this can only be achieved by thorough implementation of NRC. It is known that NPR is the database on which policy is made and NRC is a process in which people are asked to prove their citizenship. Shah says there is no connection between the two, but it is a proven fact that both are closely related.

NPR data will be used for NRC. If NPR is to used for Census then in that case Aadhar would have been the most effective instrument. It has all the indices and also biometric information. That NRC shall be carried out on the basis of NPR is enshrined in the Citizenship Rules of 2003 under the Citizenship Act 1955. Indeed, NPR is part and parcel of the rules framed for NRC.

For helping the RSS to accomplish its mission, it is imperative that a citizenship survey is done at the earliest. Undoubtedly RSS had gained huge manpower during the rule of Modi; a large number of Hindus have become its members. For this it is imperative that RSS must have detail information about its resources and manpower. It is worth mentioning that in its first term, the Narendra Modi government told Parliament at least nine times that NRC will be conducted on the basis of NPR data even calling the former a “logical conclusion” of the latter.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has also suggested that the Hindu society is capable of finding solutions in a "Hindu way" to unite the nation. He also borrowed the words of kaviguru Ravindranath Tagore, that “despite some inherent contradictions between the Hindus and Muslims, the Hindu society is capable of finding solutions in a Hindu way to unite the nation. This is the Hindu thought process, and our cultural values define the Hindu way of life.”

RSS political philosophy is based on the principles of Hindutva that advocates the supremacy of a Hindu state and nurturing hardcore Hindu principles. (IPA Service)