KCR is misleading people, says Mohammad Ali Shabbir

Hyderabad: Former minister Mohammed Ali Shabbier has accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao of misleading the people with his contradictory stand on the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

Addressing a press conference at Gandhi Bhavan on Thursday, he pointed out that Mr Rao never announced that CAA, NPR and NRC would not be implemented in Telangana.

He said that the CAA was passed in Parliament on December 11, 2019, and TRS MPs voted against it, but Mr. Rao spoke about it only after about 45 days, on January 25.

"As the ruling party in Telangana, TRS cannot simply say that it opposes the controversial law. Mr. Rao must specifically says that CAA will not be implemented in Telangana as it was done by other states such as Kerala, Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal andMadhya Pradesh," he said.

Shabbier Ali also pointed out that the State Cabinet only appealed to the Centre to abrogate CAA and did not take a decision of not implementing it in Telangana.

He alleged that the chief minister wants to keep Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah happy by not taking a tough and clear stand against the CAA while he is also trying to cheat Muslims by giving misleading statements.

He also accused MIM president Asaduddin Owaisi of acting as a shield to Mr Rao’s dual stand on CAA. “Following nationwide protests against CAA, Asaduddin Owaisi took a delegation of Muslim religious leaders to KCR on December 25. After the meeting at Pragathi Bhavan, Owaisi addressed the media and claimed that Mr. Rao would be making a big announcement in two days.”

He appealed to the religious leaders who were part of the delegation to stage a dharna at Pragathi Bhavan against Mr. Rao who did not keep his promise to them.

He alleged that “Telangana Police gave permission to RSS to hold a rally and meeting in Saroornagar. Various pro-CAA meetings were allowed including a meeting at Quli Qutub Shah Stadium. But no meeting or protest was permitted against CAA. The organisers were forced to seek the High Court's intervention to organise the Million March and despite the HC's nod, Telangana Police is not permitting women to organise protests against CAA. So far, more than 1000 cases have been filed against those who participated in anti-CAA protests. People are able to protest in some BJP-ruled states, but the KCR government is not allowing any kind of protest," he said.