Rohingya in India not a big issue, no move to hold NRC in Telangana: BJP

Hyderabad: Brushing aside the demand from the BJP state leadership to initiate the National Register for Citizens (NRC) in Telangana state also, BJP national general secretary P. Muralidhar Rao said that the Rohingya refugees living in Hyderabad and other parts of the state is not a big issue.

Replying to a query with regard to BJP state leaders demanding an NRC in Telangana state, Mr Rao said that there is a meagre number of Rohingyas in the state when compared to the number of illegals in Assam and the BJP top leadership has no strategy to hold an NRC in Telangana state.

However, BJP spokes-person in TS, Krishna Saagar Rao, mouthed the usual rhetoric: “The TRS and the MIM are for breeding Rohingyas. There’s a steady growth of illegal immigrants in the state. Hyderabad specifically has become a breeding hub for refugees as they get the support of the MIM in the name of the community. The official numbers are quite contrary to the actual numbers on the ground.”

He carried on with his anti-refugee tirade: “As NRC is initiated in Assam the same should be regulated in Telangana also just to ensure no illegal immigrants become citizens of India fraudulently. BJP Telangana unit will formally appeal to and brief Union home minister Amit Shah on the relevance of this demand.”

BJP MLA T. Raja Singh said on Twitter, “Assam toh jhanki hai, Hyderabad toh abhi baaki hai #NRC19” (Assam was an example, it’s Hyderabad’s turn next).

He appealed to Mr Amit Shah to implement the NRC in Telangana as well.

There was more anti-refugee rhetoric from BJP senior leader N. Ramachandra Rao, who said that finding the local environment feasible, illegal immigrants are coming to Telangana for their survival.

The state government has to be serious about the issue but as the ruling TRS and the MIM are two sides of one coin, the alarming situation of Rohingyas settling in TS is being ignored and rather they are breeding them for their votes.