CS allays minorities’ fear over Citizenship Act

On Friday, the Chief Secretary had reached out to the representatives from the Muslim communities to discuss the protests related to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Population Register and the National Registerof Citizens.

The members submitted representation seeking a resolution in the State Assembly like the ones adopted in other states against the NPR and the CAA.

“There is no constitutional holding for the current form of NPR guidelines as it is against the Indian Constitution. The state has already announced the census operations and the existing census enumeration is more than enough. There is no need for the National Population Register. The objective of the NPR is to bring in National Register of Citizens,” a member of the Socialistic Democratic Party of India, who attended the meeting, told DT Next, warning that the protests by various Muslim outfits would continue as the state is not giving any assurance to minorities fighting against the CAA.

“The Chief Secretary assured that the representations from the Muslim outfits will be taken up with Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. The objective of the meeting was to reduce the number of protests. We informed the Chief Secretary that there is no backing of any political party. This is a protest taken up by the public,” Abdul Rahim of Tamil Nadu Thouheed Jamath told reporters.

“The members of the Muslim community are holding demonstrations across the state since December and in Chennai, there is a continuous protest in Washermenpet against the CAA,” said an office-bearer of the Tamil Nadu Thouheed Jamath, warning that more protests would be organised on March 18 and the public would court arrest.

The protests will be called off only if the state adopts a resolution against the NPR in the ongoing State Assembly session, he said.

“We are ready to withdraw the protests provided the state adopts a resolution,” J S Alaudin, general secretary, the National Thouheed Convention, said adding that the members have conveyed about the current public sentiments to the state top brass. “We are hoping for an amicable solution in this regard,” he said.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.