Breaking his silence on Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao on Saturday announced that the state Assembly will pass a resolution against the Act. He also announced he is ready to lead a nationwide campaign against CAA. Terming CAA “100 per cent wrong”, he appealed to the Supreme Court to strike it down.
Addressing a news conference, he announced he would soon hold a meeting of chief ministers and like-minded political parties in Hyderabad against CAA and NRC. Saying that he has already spoke to several CMs, he said if necessary, he would hold anti-CAA and anti-NRC meeting “with 10 lakh people”. KCR, as Rao is popularly known, said the Indian Constitution has given equal rights to people, irrespective of their religion, caste and region. Terming CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC) the biggest blunders of the BJP government, he urged the Prime Minister to recall the Act.
He noted that the country is facing criticism from intellectuals across the world on CAA and NRC. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) president said TRS was opposed to such decisions and that was why it voted against the Bill in Parliament. He said he had conveyed his feelings clearly to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, when the latter had called him for support to the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament. “Excluding one community, Muslims, in the name of CAA, pained me a lot”, he said. KCR said there was no question of TRS compromising on secularism. “India cannot be converted into a Hindu nation. We are a secular country. This country belongs to all the people. We should continue to be secular,” he said.
He lashed out at the Centre for ignoring the crucial issues such as economic slowdown, unemployment and development.
