Hyderabad MP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday addressed a protest meeting in Vijayawada and appealed to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, to oppose the Centre's controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by passing a resolution in the state Assembly.
Owaisi also asked Jagan's YSRCP to oppose the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
Owaisi was speaking at a meeting in Kummaripalem in the city, which was organised by the Muslim Muttahida Mahaz (All Minorities Associations Network). He was joined by several Muslim leaders besides Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas from the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
Welcoming Srinivas' support, Owaisi also requested TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu to speak up against the CAA. The party had backed the Bill when it was tabled in Parliament.
This comes just days after Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Amjad Pasha participated in a massive anti-CAA march in Kadapa and said that he was even ready to resign in protest.
"I am ready to take the protest against this black law to any extent," he said while responding to strong demands from the protesters.
At the time, the Deputy CM admitted that YSRCP committed a mistake by backing the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) in the Parliament. "This happened due to lack of awareness about the bill at the time. There was information gap. But now that all sections of people are protesting against CAA across the country, we can't support it," he said.
He also said that the National Population Register (NPR) in the new format was not acceptable to the ruling party in the state. "There are new columns in NPR 2020. We can't provide date of birth, place of birth of our parents and grandparents," he said.
IANS inputs