Kalvakuntla Chandrashekhar Rao, fondly referred to as KCR, the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi chief and the head of Telangana state, came down heavily on the Centre’s Citizenship act.
Known to be one among the fearless political leaders in the southern part of the country who could potentially challenge the BJP, KCR has always been vocally critical of the policies of the center. Even though he supported the move of demonetization, he had expressed his disappointments and even predicted it to have long term impact. This time around, he is clearly opposing the center’s citizenship amendment act.
Addressing the motion of thanksgiving to the governor, KCR took the stage to lament at the NPR exercise that is asking people to produce their birth certificates to prove their citizenship. He also categorically said it is wrong as it violates the basic principle of the constitution.
‘Should I die?’
Citing his own example, he revealed that he himself doesn’t possess a birth certificate as he was born in a house in his village where no hospitals existed to get an official stamp of his birth. He also stressed that his family had 580 acres of land and a huge building.
‘How can you expect a poor Dalit to produce documents when I myself don’t have one despite being born into a rich family?’ he said.
‘If they ask me to produce certificates, should I die?’ he exaggerated to make his point in the speech and questioned the intent of such an amendment. He also advised the Modi government to hand out the National Identity card instead to solve the issue of illegal migration.
KCR feels that the “negativity” that is being spread in the country through the draconian law and it is not a time to be silent.
Unconstitutionality of the act
In the same speech, he repeatedly mentioned the unconstitutionality of the law that violates the fundamental principle of the constitution by discriminating based on religion. The disappointing image created in the foreign media also found itself a mention in the speech.
‘It has caused a dent in India’s image globally’, he said.
Before signing off, he also announced that a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act will be passed in the legislative assembly soon. If it happens, Telangana will become the second southern state after Kerala to do so.
