Clerics to educate UP Muslims on NRC documents

The 150-year-old Idara-e-Sharia at Firangi Mahali will now tell Muslims in Uttar Pradesh to keep 22 documents required for the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

The documents include certificates of inheritance, birth, education and bank, refugee registration, as well as family ledgers among other identity proofs.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has already said that that NRC will be implemented in the entire country and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also indicated a phased rollout of NRC in the state.

"After the NRC programme in Assam, there is a definite fear among Muslims about its consequences if implemented in Uttar Pradesh," said Maulana Affan Atiq Firangi Maheli, General Secretary, Idara-e-Sharia.

"Muslims are usually careless about maintaining their documents and need to be pushed. Nobody had even imagined that they would, one day, have to prove their nationality. But we have to be prepared and keep the community prepared."

Printed handouts in Hindi and Urdu with details of the NRC history, the Indian Citizenship Act of 1955 and the performa will also be floated in social media for maximum coverage.

Mosques, madrasas and clerics will disseminate this information within the community.

The appeal from Maulana Abul Ifran Firangi Maheli will also request the poor and uninitiated in the Muslim community to keep the 22 documents ready but also make any changes required to be taken up in their voter cards and voter lists, Aadhar cards and other documents of identification.

"The exercise will also reduce burden of the government machinery when the listing is taken up. This will eliminate any last minute human errors that could put a citizen's nationality at stake," added Maulana Affan.

( With inputs from IANS )