AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday termed the CAA as against the consitutional 'Right to Equality' and said that he will approach the Supreme court once again. The statemnet came in view of fresh rules being notified for the law.
A law cannot be made on the basis of religion and that there are many Supreme Court judgments on it, he said. "... (it is) against the right to equality. You are giving permission (citizenship) to every religion, you are not giving to those whose religion is Islam," he told reporters here.
The Centre on Monday implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, notifying the rules four years after the contentious law was passed by Parliament to fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014. Owaisi claimed that CAA should be seen together with NPR (National Population Register) and NRC (National Register of Citizens).
"This government is making rules after four years. I would like to tell the country. The present Home Minister (Amit Shah) has said in Parliament and mentioning my name that NPR will also come, NRC will also come. He (Home Minister) had said this in many TV interviews. I would like to say don't see CAA (alone). You have to see this together with NPR and NRC. When that happens, of course, the biggest target would be Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis and the poor," he said. He said in the "Supreme Court-monitored" exercise on NRC in Assam, 19 lakh names did not figure.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that about 10 to 12 lakh Hindus whose names did not figure in the list would get citizenship when CAA is implemented as their religion is included in it, Owaisi said. Saying that about two lakh Muslims out of the 19 lakh would not get this benefit, he asked what else it is if not injustice.
It is false to say that Hindus, Sikhs or Christians who were living in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh could not be given citizenship, he claimed. "The government always had power. They could have given by executive order," he said. Owaisi recalled that he himself had filed a case in the Supreme Court on CAA. When the hearing took place and his lawyer sought a stay, the government had responded saying that rules have not been framed. "Now, when the rules have been framed, we will file in the Supreme Court. We will make an effort to raise this issue in the court," the AIMIM leader said.
Observing that the Telangana Legislative Assembly had passed a resolution (during the previous BRS regime) that a census would be done in the state but not NPR-NRC exercise, he expressed confidence that the Congress government in the state would go by that. "We are not against the census exercise. Because it is done under a particular Act. NPR-NRC is done under the Citizenship Act. That is the concern. What BJP has done in Assam, wants to do it throughout the country," Owaisi said.
Asked if he would take up an agitation by joining forces with like-minded organisations, he said the country belongs to all and not confined to political parties. Stating that he is not against giving citizenship to Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, he said, "You are making this law, because, when you do NPR and NRC in the country in the future, you want to make the 17 crore Muslims in India stateless," he alleged.
The people of Hyderabad would vote against the CAA and defeat BJP in the elections, Owaisi said. The AIMIM president also expressed his concern about the resignation of Election Commisioner Arun Goel ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
(With inputs from PTI)
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