Congress slams TRS ‘support’ to NPR, says K Chandrashekhar Rao is agent

Hyderabad: Former minister and ex-Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir has strongly condemned Home Minister Mahmood Ali’s announcement that the Telangana Gover-nment would implement the National Population Register (NPR) in the new format.

Addressing a massive ‘Mushaira’ held against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), NRC and NPR at Quli Qutub Shah Stadium on Monday evening, Shabbir Ali strongly condemned home minister Mahmood Ali for announcing that NPR would be implemented in Telangana with six additional questions that require people to report the date and place of birth of their parents during the NPR survey.

He reminded the audience that it was the Congress-led UPA Government which had launched the population register in 2010. It was a simple form with 21 basic questions and no community or individual had any objection to it. However, the BJP government has made it contentious by adding six new parameters which include Aadh-aar number of the resident, voter ID, PAN, driving licence number and mobile phone and date and place of birth of parents and the last place of residence.

“Before asking people, let KCR and Mahmood Ali tell us the date of birth of their parents and furnish documents to prove it,” he said.

Shabbir Ali reiterated the allegation that Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao was a BJP agent and his government would implement CAA, NRC and NPR in Telangana. He said that the TRS opposing the Citizen Amendment Bill in Parliament was only an eye-wash to mislead the people, especially the Muslims. “If TRS was really opposed to CAA, then what is preventing KCR from making an open announcement that CAA, NRC and NPR would not be implemented in Telan-gana?" he asked.

The Congress leader also slammed MIM leader Waris Pathan for his controversial ‘15 crore Vs 100 crore’ remark. He accused the MIM leaders of helping the BJP in implementing a communal agenda in the country. “With his controversial remarks, the MIM leader has tried to sabotage the Shaheen Bagh and other anti-CAA protests. People belonging to all religions and communities are taking part in the anti-CAA protests. But Waris Pathan, at the instance of the BJP and RSS, has tried to give a wrong impression that anti-CAA agitation belongs to only one particular community,” he said.
He further slammed the TRS and Hyderabad city police for denying permission to anti-CAA protests.