NRC Face-off

Vote bank politics? As tiwari seeks NRC in Delhi ahead of feb polls, cm says bjp chief will have to leave city first if it’s done

- Gulam Jeelani

The politics over the National Register of Citizens (NRC) peaked in the Capital on Wednesday with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal suggesting that BJP’s Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari, who has been demanding the exercise in the city, should be the first to leave the city in case such a list was ever compiled.

CM’s remark, pointing at Tiwari’s Purvanchali roots, was his first response to BJP leader’s pitch for Assam-like NRC exercise in Delhi citing the rationale that illegal immigrants were responsible for the increase in crime in the city.

“If NRC is implemented in Delhi, Tiwariji will have to leave first,” Kejriwal said, responding to a question on the sidelines of a presser.

Calling Kejriwal’s comment “disgraceful”, Tiwari said the Delhi CM’s comment betrayed his belief that those from outside Delhi have no right to live in the Capital.

“If you are from Bihar, Haryana or Madhya Pradesh... do you become a part of the NRC?” Tiwari questioned.