Telangana passes resolution against CAA, NPR, NRC

Two Houses of Telangana State Legislature unanimously passed resolution against contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) brought in by BJP-led NDA government, as also the NPR and NRC. The resolution urged the Union government to amend the CAA and remove all references to any religion or to any foreign country.

Expressing concern over the proposed implementation of National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizenship (NRC) which may result in exclusion of large number of people, the resolution also urged the State government to take all necessary steps to safeguard the people of Telangana State from NPR and NRC. “There have been concerted efforts to tinker with the inclusive and non-religious nature of the Indian citizenship through the CAA, NPR and NRC. This will endanger the lives of vulnerable groups who do not possess adequate documentary proof for citizenship,” the resolution said, pointing out that there were also serious questions as to the legality and constitutionality of CAA, NPR and NRC. “For the first time in India, the CAA introduced a religious test to acquire Indian citizenship while providing an accelerated path to citizenship for non-Muslim citizens of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Divisive politics
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, moving the resolution in the State Assembly, said Telangana had very strong reasons to oppose CAA, NPR and NRC which had caused nationwide unrest besides promoting divisive politics. “The issue here is not a question of Muslims or Hindus, but one that affects the entire country. In a civilised society like India, we cannot tolerate such nuisance which has led to unrest in several parts of the country amid apprehensions in the minds of the people,” he said.

The Chief Minister said that Telangana, as the youngest State in the country, and one that was contributing significantly to nation-building, had the responsibility to speak out on such issues. “At a time when the world is moving towards breaking down borders and barriers, is there a need for such divisive politics in the country?” he asked.

“We have very strong reasons to oppose the CAA, NRC and NPR. This is not to be taken lightly, and there is need to oppose such narrow-minded politics. Dissent cannot be seen as anti-national, which is what is happening now,” he said. He pointed out that several other States like West Bengal, Kerala, Rajasthan had also passed resolutions opposing the CAA, NPR and NRC.

Poser on slogans
Condemning slogans like “Goli maro sa…. ko,” raised by some leaders during the election campaign, Chandarashekhar Rao asked whether the country needed such kind of divisive and provocative politics. He pointed out that the Act was completely against the Preamble of the Constitution of India. He stated that both NDA and UPA governments in the past attempted to implement a Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC) on an experimental basis, but failed utterly as a majority of the people lacked all documents.

Cutting across party lines, legislators, including those from the opposition Congress, and AIMIM, supported the resolution. They pointed out that the CAA was against the very fundamentals as enshrined in the Preamble of the Constitution that was causing unnecessary mental trauma for the residents of the country. The House also observed that the conflation of NPR and Census exercise would endanger the integrity and safety of the Census exercise itself.