Civic polls a vote on CAA: Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad: MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday said the January 22 municipal elections would be a referendum for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that was passed by the Narendra Modi government, the proposed National Register for Citizens (NRC) and the National Popul-ation Register (NPR).

Addressing a massive public meeting at Nalgo-nda, he said, “We are ready to sacrifice our lives in the fight against the CAA, NRC and the NPR. This fight is for the future of this great nation and not only for the cause of Muslims.”

Mr Owaisi alleged that Mr Modi and his Cabinet had been misleading the nation by telling lies one after the other with regard to the CAA, NPR and the NRC.

He appealed to Musl-ims, Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs to vote against the BJP in the civic polls. “The fight is to save these sections from the suppression of the BJP’s Hindutva ideology.”

Stating that every day as many as 10 youngsters were losing their lives due to unemployment and poverty in the country, the MIM president alleged that Mr Modi  and his government were not bothered by it.

Referring to the death of about 20 people in police firing during the protests against the CAA-NRC-NPR in Uttar Pradesh, and the police high-handedness against the students of Jamia Millia, he said, “We hoped that home minister Amit Shah will not keep quiet till action is taken against the police officers responsible for these acts, but it is unfortunate that till date he has not even condemned the police brutality.”

Stating that under Section 6 of the CAA, the BJP government was taking steps to give citizenship to around 4 lakh Bengali-speaking Hindus in Assam and leaving out Bengali-speaking Muslims, Mr Owa-isi asked the BJP government if it was not an injustice. He said the Centre could give citizenship to refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan but not on the basis of religion.

Owaisi made it clear that the fight against the CAA, NRC and NPR will not be ended until the Centre rolls back the decision.

Owaisi demanded that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao stay the implementation of the NPR as was done by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vinayan.

Owaisi said that the movement was to protect the nation from the divisive rule of the BJP and against its move to make the nation a Hindu rashtra and protect the secular credentials of the country. The Constitution clearly says that India has no religion, Owaisi said.

Owaisi said that the movement was to protect the nation from the divisive rule of the BJP and against its move to make the nation a Hindu rashtra and protect the secular credentials of the country. The Constitution clearly says that India has no religion, Owaisi said.