Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has made it categorical that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be opposed tooth and nail, and the Telangana Assembly will pass a resolution against it.
Expressing his opinion on the CAA for the first time at a press conference in Hyderabad, the Chief Minister appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reconsider the CAA and said that, in a democratic set up, it was better to review laws that were opposed by people.
He said India was a federal country and argued that States had their own rights to protect and the Assembly had a right to express its opinion on any law in a federal setup like India.
The Chief Minister said the CAA had damaged India’s reputation abroad as a peace-loving country and this was not at all good for the country where people had coexisted for centuries. He felt that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Narendra Modi government was bent upon dividing people through this ‘controversial’ law. The TRS was a secular party and would not discriminate against anyone based on religion or caste.
To call for CMs’ meet
Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao also plans to call for a meeting of the Chief Ministers and like-minded political parties. “I want to host the meeting in Hyderabad to send a strong message to the country and chalk out a strategy to oppose the legislation,” he said. “I am not scared of any party or anyone.”
Also read: Kerala Assembly asks Centre to annul Citizenship Amendment Act | Repeal CAA, Punjab urges Centre in House resolution
KCR also found fault with the contradictory statements of the Union Ministers on the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). In Parliament, the government’s intentions were made clear when it said the NPR was the first step to NRC but some ministers refused it.
He said Union Minister of State for Home G. Kishan Reddy, who hails from Hyderabad, had been saying there was no force on people to divulge the details. “What do you want the Telangana government to tell people? Should we tell people to give the details or not, and Mr. Kishan Reddy should give some clarity on it,” he said.
