NRC will not be implemented in Bihar: Nitish Kumar

Patna, Dec 20: Bihar Chief Minister and BJP ally Nitish Kumar on Friday announced that the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will not be implemented in his state.

With this Bihar became the latest state that have declared that NRC will not be implemented in the state.

Kumar made this clear in a terse reply to queries from journalists who had sought his response on the proposed country-wide implementation of NRC.

"Kaahe ka NRC? Bilkul laagu nahin hoga" (NRC, what for? Will not at all be implemented), Kumar said waiving to journalists seeking to know the stand of the chief minister.

Notably, Kumar becomes the first chief minister from the NDA camp to have voiced disapproval of the proposed move to have an all India NRC which has triggered country-wide tension and protests. Kumar is heading a coalition government with the BJP in Bihar.

The poll strategist-turned-Janata Dal United leader Prashanth Kishor had told journalists that Nitish Kumar had assured him there would be no NRC in Bihar.

The chief ministers of West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have already announced that the law is "unconstitutional and has no place in the respective states.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, one of the vocal critique of Narendra Modi said, "In your (BJP) manifesto, instead of development issues, you have put in promise to divide the country. Why will citizenship be on the basis of religion? I will not accept this. We dare you ... ." "You can pass laws in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha forcefully because you have the number. But we will not let you divide the country," she said.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday lashed out at the BJP-led government and said the "unconstitutional Bill" will have no place in Kerala and the state will not implement it.

Opposition to Citizenship (Amendment) Act and nationwide NRC has led to violent protests across the country.

Citizens and mainly students have held protests that soon turned violent. While people in Northeastern states were the first to take to streets as the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, protests in rest of the country were sparked mainly by university students.

The protests gathered greater momentum after the police action against agitating students at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi.