Union Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has assured all Indian Muslims that the National Population Register (NPR) exercise and the changes to the citizenship law “won’t deprive” any India Hindu or Muslim of their citizenship. The minister’s response came to a question by a senior Muslim citizen on this week’s Aap Ki Adalat, set to be aired on India TV at 10 PM on Saturday.
During the question and answer round with the audience on India TV’s Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma’s award-winning show, a senior citizen expressed concern that he might have to produce the birth certificate of his father during the NPR exercise.
“Both my parents are long dead. Now, we are hearing that that we will have to produce our father’s birth certificate…” the man is seen asking Prasad, in a promo video released by the channel.
Prasad quipped that “every Indian citizen would ideally know where their father was born.”
“If in case you don’t know your father’s date of birth, you could clearly state that on the (NPR) form,” the Union Minister added.
The minister took the audience member’s question with a pinch of salt, stating that he didn’t “agree with the line of thinking,” referring to unfounded fears about the NPR and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) being tools to snatch the citizenship of Indian nationals.
“The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is only about giving citizenship to persecuted minorities from other countries. It doesn’t have anything to do with Indian citizens,” said Prasad.
The union minister also fielded questions on a range of topics from Rajat Sharma.
Watch the full episode of Aap Ki Adalat on India TV at 10 PM on Saturday.
