In response to the controversial statement by a Kerala BJP leader that the state will be denied ration if the work for the National Population Register is not implemented, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said, ‘We will see’.
As per reports, BJP spokesperson B Gopalakrishnan on Thursday during a press meet had said that “NPR is necessary for various concessions like ration distribution in the country” and that not implementing NPR will block the ration concessions in the state.
Sitaram Yechury accused leaders of the BJP in Kerala of trying to fulfil Narendra Modi’s ‘dream’ of starving people in Kerala. Yechury also wrote in Malayalam, ‘nammuku kaanam’, which means, ‘we will see’.
“Modi had spoken of Kerala being like Somalia. The BJP wants to fulfil Modi's perverse dream of starving the proud people of Kerala. But that is not happening. They can keep on dreaming,” Yechury wrote on Twitter. In 2016, PM Narendra Modi had compared Kerala to the African country of Somalia, saying that infant mortality rate among the scheduled tribes in the state is worse than Somalia. The statement had created a huge controversy, with Prime Minister getting severely criticised on social media since Kerala was reported to have the lowest infant mortality rate in the country.
The BJP leader’s statement on ration had come after Kerala Chief Minister made it clear that the state will not work on the process for the NPR. The decision was taken as agitations were held across the country against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.
Meanwhile, BJP leader K Surendran also stated that Kerala government will have to implement NPR as it is necessary to avail central government schemes.
Last week, an order was issued by state government stopping all works related to NPR, citing “apprehension among the true general public about the conduct of NPR related activities leads to a National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the wake of the Citizenship Amendment Act.”
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