TIRUPATI: While hailing Kerala government for passing a resolution in the assembly to not implement National register of citizens (NRC) and National population register (NPR), which was duly followed by several other states, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury urged Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy to adopt a similar resolution instead of merely writing to the central government. He said the NPR should be stopped first so as to bring the NRC to a halt. He not only demanded the delinking of NPR from the census process, but also the continuance of the system followed in 2010, with no additional questions posed to the citizens.

Extending support to the ongoing agitation in Tirupati by Democratic Secular Protection Front, a conglomerate of Left parties, Muslim and Dalit outfits, in front of the Sub-Collector’s Office here on Sunday, he said that the agitation was projected as Hindu-Muslim clash, while it actually dealt with misusing the constitution. He said the agitators were against to the manner in which citizenship was being linked to one’s faith, which he said was against the spirit of the constitution. Yechury explained that if the process of according citizenship to all but Muslims was allowed today, the government could wield a similar weapon in future that could lead to marginalisation of dalits and tribals, which precisely was the concern of Left parties.

Taking exception to the government’s reply that the CAA was irreversible as the bill had been passed in both the houses of the parliament, Yechury pointed out that even the draconian emergency was invoked after being passed in the parliament. “No matter we are branded as ‘anti-national’, we will continue the fight till Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdraws the black law”, he remarked.

