The Kurnool Joint Action Committee (KJAC) staged a sit-in at the dharna chowk here demanding that the government scrap the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), on Saturday.
Kurnool MLA Hafeez Khan sat alongside the leaders of KJAC and reiterated the State government’s stand. “The Muslims of Andhra Pradesh would not be inconvenienced in any manner by CAA or NRC,” he said.
Brushing aside the rumours that the government had started collecting data, he said, “The government has not started collecting any data for citizenship. However, the village and ward volunteers are collecting some data for the effective implementation of the government’s welfare schemes.”
Responding to an appeal by the leaders of KJAC, Mr. Khan said that he was confident that the NPR would not be taken up in the State in a discriminatory manner. On why the YSRCP voted in favour of the CAA, the MLA blamed the Central government and claimed that they were given “half-truths” about the Act.
KJAC leader Syed Shafi Pasha Qadri told The Hindu that the protest was expected to last a month. “Every day a new set of people from different areas of the city will stage a protest against CAA, NRC and NPR,” he said.
Left parties, SC, ST organisations, Progressive Organisation of People (POP), and other progressive organisations extended their support to the stir.
