Arundhati Roy Draws Flak For Urging People To Fake Their Identities For NPR

Activist and author Arundhati Roy while speaking at an anti-CAA protest in New Delhi said that people should give false names and address when the officials come to collect details for the National Population Register (NPR), on Wednesday, December 25.

“When officials visit your home for NPR and ask you your name, give them names like Ranga-Billa, Kungfu-Katta,” India Today quoted Arundhati Roy as saying.

She further asked people to cite their address as 7 Race Course Road ( now Lok Kalyan Marg, the Prime Minister’s residence) and decide on a phone number that everyone will provide the officials.

“They will visit your homes, take your name, phone number and ask for documents like Aadhaar and driving licences. The NPR will become a database of NRC. We need to fight against it and have a plan. When they visit your home for NPR and ask for your name, give them some different name. For address say 7 RCR. A lot of subversions will be needed, we are not born to face lathis and bullets,” Roy said.

Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of lying about the NRC process and detention camps in India, Roy said, “He lied knowing that it will be caught, but still he lied because he has media with him which will not question him.”

Arundhati Roy also said that CAA and NRC were not just against Muslims but also against Dalits, tribals and poor people of India.

Arundhati Roy Slammed

With the Ranga-Billa comment, Roy has once again created a stir in the country. BJP leader Uma Bharti slammed Roy for using Ranga and Billa names, who were hardcore criminals, instead of men like Ashfaqullah Khan or Ramprasad Bismil.

“I am ashamed to take the name of such a woman who idolises people like Ranga-Billa. Her views are not only anti-women, anti-humanity, but also shows a very disgusting mentality,” tweeted Uma Bharti.

7. मैं शर्मिंदा हूँ कि मुझे इस महिला के नाम का ज़िक्र करना पड़ रहा है, जिसके दिमाग़ में रंगा-बिल्ला जैसे लोग भी आदर्श हो सकते हैं। यह विचार महिला विरोधी, मानवता विरोधी एवं बेहद घृणित एवं विकृत मानसिकता की पहचान है।

— Uma Bharti (@umasribharti) December 25, 2019

Hitting out at Roy, former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “If this is the kind of intellectuals we have in this country, then first we should get a register of these people. Arundhati Roy should be ashamed of herself. If such statements are not betraying the nation, what is?”

Calling out Roy, firebrand BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has demanded that she be arrested under the National Security Act (NSA).

“This amounts to sedition. In effect you are saying is not an illegitimate government. Leave aside the sanctity of the law, even for the national survey if officials ask how many kgs of rice you eat, you have to tell the truth,” Financial Express quoted Swamy as saying.

“It is a matter of national security. She should be arrested under NSA. She is a danger to the society by spreading this saying… she is trying to bring the nation in dispute, creating hatred against the Hindu community by siding with the Muslim community and provoking them,” he added.

Also Read: ‘We Are Faced With Biggest Challenge Since Independence’: Arundhati Roy On Citizenship Act