Amaravati, March 14: Andhra Pradesh’s ruling party YSR Congress is against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in its present format, said party’s MLA Mohammed Abdul Hafeez Khan.
He demanded amendments to the legislation to address the concerns of the Muslim community.
The MLA from Kurnool reiterated the YSRCP’s position on the CAA, which has been implemented by the Centre recently by issuing a notification.
Echoing the apprehensions of people, Hafeez Khan said the CAA will have an adverse impact on the Muslim community. He said the legislation has created a sense of insecurity among the community.
“In NRC or NPR, if an Indian Muslim is not able to prove his citizenship, the CAA will not apply to him. However, if anyone from any other religion faces a similar situation, CAA will be applicable and provide him protection. Today, somewhere within the system, there is a lot of distress within the Muslim community that they might be targeted through NRC/NPR and CAA will not be able to shield them,” he said.
The YSRCP leader said the Centre should rethink and take everyone into confidence. “We should amend CAA to give equal rights to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Muslims. There should be no discrimination,” he said.
Khan said Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s vision is centred around providing security and justice to every citizen. “In the last five years he mentioned hundreds of times that there will be no discrimination on the basis of religion, caste, party lines or even region with respect to the social welfare programmes, law and order or justice,” he said.
He mentioned that Chief Minister Jagan and the YSRCP consistently stood in support of and valuing all communities equally.
He recalled that the state Assembly already passed a resolution that the state government will not implement NPR.
The state Assembly in 2020 passed a resolution opposing NPR in its current format. It had requested the Centre to keep NPR exercise in abeyance till the procedure is reverted to 2010 format.
