Hyderabad: MIM to continue with protest meetings

Hyderabad: AIMIM (All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) has decided to carry out more protest meetings against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), the National Register for Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR) in the Telugu States.

Following success of protest meeting held at Darussalam on December 21, the AIMIM along with members of United Muslim Action Committee has decided to continue their protest programmes. On December 24, they have also organised a meeting in Mahboob Nagar, which witnessed good response. According to the party leaders, the party will be organising protest meeting in Nizamabad on December 27 and in Warangal by the end of this month and some more meetings in other districts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Even though AIMIM chief Asaduddin received requests to take out massive rallies, he was not keen given the response it had received from police and security agencies in other States. The party is also of the opinion that this will allow troublemakers to sneak into the ranks and create trouble and could end up leading to violence.

On Wednesday Asaduddin along with the members of United Muslim Action Committee, met Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao and handed over him a memorandum on the National Population Register (NPR) and requested him to order a stay over NPR updation.

The representation said that for the first time in the history of independent India, the CAA incorporated a religious qualification. Furthermore, when seen in light of the NRIC (National Register of Indian Citizens), it creates a possibility of an avoidable humanitarian disaster. Therefore, the link between NPR and NRIC must be clearly understood.

Moreover, we must also distinguish between NPR and census. While the latter is a periodic exercise conducted under the Census Act, 1948, the former is conducted in pursuance of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2003. The NPR exercise has undergone significant changes since it was last conducted in 2010, and later updated in 2015.

"It is our finding that the NPR - NRIC exercise will cause disproportionate hardship to the most marginalised communities. Furthermore, it will impose an unnecessary and excessive burden on the government's employees and civil servants, they stated.

The Constitution places the power and responsibility of public order and police on state governments. Burdening citizens, especially from poor and marginalised backgrounds, with the arbitrary procedure under the above mentioned rules is only likely to deepen fissures in society and empower miscreants to disrupt public order, mentioned in representation," the delegation argued.