Former Justice Chandra Kumar, others asks KCR to oppose CAA-NRC

Hyderabad: Former High Court Justice, B. Chandra Kumar appealed to Telangana Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, to oppose CAA-NRC in the vein of the West Bengal and Kerala CMs – Mamta Bannerjee and Pinrayi Vijayan.

While attending a roundtable conference on Thursday organized by Joint Action Committee (JAC), Kumar requested KCR to make an official announcement which would pressure the central government to withdraw CAA-NRC. He also announced that he is a member of the JAC that is combating these parallel initiatives regarding citizenship.  

The different segments of the Muslim community opposed the National Register of Citizens push and the recently ratified Citizenship (Amendment) Act both spearheaded by the Central government.

A diverse group of community leaders including bureaucrats and religious/political/leaders decried the unconstitutionality of the NRC while deeming it an attempt to further transform India into a Hindutva nation.

The JAC is made up of groups from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh which includes intellectuals, advocates, Dalit groups, and other intellectuals.

The group also declared that they will stage a Maha Dharna (Massive protest) across the state until these two parallel initiatives are withdrawn.

Mr. Mushtaq Malik, President of the Tahreek Muslim Shabban and JAC convener said, “We request the Telangana Chief Minister to make an announcement opposing the NCR. We totally boycott the CAA-NRC.

Today 20 Muslim groups, eight Dalit groups, Justice Chandra Kumar, Justice Ramachandra Rao, and Professor Vishweshwar Rao have joined the JAC. We will be staging a Maha Dharna on December 29, 2019, at Tank Bund in Hyderabad.”

He also spoke about the group becoming stronger with the addition of various groups all over Telangana from various castes, religions, and cultures. Over 450 community leaders have enrolled with the JAC.

The JAC also plans to submit a representation to KCR. In their representation, they stress that the NRC will have a catastrophic impact on the lives of citizens across the country.

According to them, the law treats people as innocent until proven guilty but the proposed NRC instead treats everyone as guilty until proven innocent. The onus will be on the individuals to prove they are Indian citizens.