Over 100 Retired Bureaucrats Say ‘India Doesn’t Need NPR-CAA’

The retired bureaucrats wrote an open letter saying that both NPR and the NRC are “unnecessary and wasteful”.

Protesters carrying the Triclour display placards and raise slogans during a rally against CAA, NRC and NPR, in Ranchi, Wednesday, 8 Jan.

(Photo: PTI)

Citing grave reservations about the constitutional validity of CAA, over 100 retired bureaucrats on Thursday, 9 January, wrote an open letter to the people saying that both the NPR and the NRIC are "unnecessary and wasteful exercises", which will cause hardship to the public at large.

The bureaucrats, including former lieutenant governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung, the then cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar and former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah, urged fellow citizens to insist the central government to repeal relevant sections of the Citizenship Act, 1955, pertaining to the issue of national identity cards.

"At a time when the economic situation in the country warrants the closest attention of the government, India can ill afford a situation where the citizenry and the government enter into confrontation on the roads. Nor is it desirable to have a situation where the majority of state governments are not inclined to implement the NPR/NRIC, leading to an impasse in centre-state relations, so crucial in a federal set up like India," the letter read.

They also asked people to urge the government to withdraw the Foreigners (Tribunals) Amendment Order, 2019 and withdraw all instructions for construction of detention camps, besides repealing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, according to the letter.