NRC, NPR more disastrous than demonetisation: Rahul Gandhi

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Attacking the government over the issue of the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said these exercises will be more disastrous than demonetisation that banned high currency notes of Rs.500 and Rs. 1,000 in November 2016. The basic idea of these exercises is to ask all poor people whether they are Indian or not, he told reporters on the sidelines of the flag-hoisting ceremony at the AICC headquarters here on the occasion of 135th foundation day of the party.

"His (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) 15 friends will not have to show any document and the money generated will go into the pockets if those 15 people," news agency PTI quoted him as saying, while referring to his allegation that the government was working for the benefit of "15 crony capitalists".

"This will be more disastrous for the people then demonetisation. This will have twice the impact of demonetization," he said.

Later in the day, Rahul Gandhi will for the first time visit Assam today since protests first broke out in the state earlier this month over the amended Citizenship Act. 

On Thursday, Rahul had hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his claim that there are no detention centres in India and the suggestion that a nationwide rollout of National Register of Citizens is not happening. Taking on to his twitter handle, Rahul, along with an edited clip of PM Modi's speech from Delhi's Ramlila Maidan, said, "The Prime Minister of the RSS lies to Mother India." 

The Congress MP also used a hashtag #JhootJhootJhoot (Lies, Lies, Lies).

Massive protests against the CAA or Citizenship (Amendment) Act are taking place in various parts of India. The government says the law will help non-Muslim migrants from three neighbouring nations become Indian citizens if they fled religious persecution and entered India before 2015. Activists, students, opposition parties and other protesters say the law discriminates against Muslims and is against the secular tenets of the constitution.