CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said that it was essential that all the secular forces in the country come together, and appealed to Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, to dissociate with the National Population Register (NPR).
Pointing out that the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) had voted against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Yechury said that NPR was the first stage of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which would in turn increase communal polarisation. He was speaking at an event in Osmania University in Hyderabad.
Later on Friday, Yechury also addressed a gathering at the University of Hyderabad (UoH).The CPI(M) leader alleged CAA, NPR and NRC were aimed at making India a fascist country and hence people should reject them.
On RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwats comments that 130 crore Indians were Hindus for the Sangh, Yechury said, "How can it be. It is not possible if they define Hindus as a religion. The meaning of that statement is that all non-Hindus are not Indians. That is the interpretation. Otherwise what is the meaning of that statement?"
"This is not Hindu-Muslim issue. The struggle is to save democracy," he claimed.
Replying to a query at Osmania University, he said he would not suggest people to give wrong information when the enumerators come for the NPR.
He said the additional details sought in the NPR may authorise the officials to keep any persons name under D category (doubtful) if there was a lack of sufficient information such as parents' birth place.
Yechury accused the Modi government of pushing the country towards polarisation on religious lines.
Noting that chief ministers of 13 states have opposed the contentious NRC and two of them (Kerala and West Bengal) have stayed the NPR process in their states, he appealed to the others also to stop the updation of the population register.
PTI inputs