Lucknow, Dec 26 (IANS): Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said that the Modi government could not achieve its goal through the National Register of Citizens (NRC) but will now do the same through the National Population Register (NPR).

In an informal chat with reporters, he said that there was no difference between NCR and NPR because the government was preparing to include points for which papers would not be easily available.

"The government will fulfil its aim through NPR now," he said.

The former Chief Minister, replying to a question, said that police action seen in recent protests against the citizenship law was a result of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's 'thoko' policy which had made the police force trigger happy.

He further said that the ruling party was getting apprehensive of the Hindu-Muslim unity and is now trying to target the poor by confiscating their properties. He demanded that the government should hold an impartial probe into the role of the police in recent weeks.