By Matters India Reporter
Secunderabad, March 6, 2020: The Federation of Telugu Churches (FTC) has rejected the Amendment Act (CAA), National Registry of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
FTC also urged the federal and state governments across the country to scrap CAA, NRC, and NPR.
“While we reject the present process of CAA, NPR and NRC, and ask the people to do the same by warning them of the dangers inherent in it, we demand that the Governments, both at the Centre and States, stop the whole process until the threats and fears are allayed, and proper assurances, needed amendments and required guarantees are put in place,” Fr Anthoniraj Thumma and B. Danam IAS (Retd), executive secretaries of FTC, said in a press note March 6.
FTC issued the press statement after its members comprising Archbishops, Bishops, Heads of Churches and Leaders of Christian Denominations held its Annual General Body Meeting on March 3 at St. John’s Regional Seminary, Hyderabad, capital of Telangana State.
According to FTC, We understand that CAA, NRC and NPR “are closely linked together, one leading to the other as part of one process, creating fear in most of the citizens, leading to violent protests all over our country, and resulting in some States like Utter Pradesh and Delhi in many deaths and a lot of destruction.”
CAA links citizenship with religion for the first time, treating Muslims differently from other religions, violating the Right to Equality and Secularism enshrined in our Constitution.
“Muslims across India rightly feel threatened as it will be easier now to label them illegal under NRC. This will lead to unequal citizenship to which any other religious or caste communities can easily be added in the future. While we welcome citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries, this should be done without excluding anyone and irrespective of one’s religious or ideological affiliations,” FTC statement explained.
To check the infiltrators, illegal migrants, extremists and terrorists to whichever religious or ideological group they may belong, there are existing Citizenship Rules that have sufficient provisions to do this and it can also be verified whether they seek refuge in India due to persecution or not.
“The latest Amendment to the Citizenship Act which excludes Muslims goes against the very soul of our Nation and the spirit of Indian Civilization which has always cherished the values of hospitality, inclusiveness, tolerance and acceptance of all without any discrimination and differentiation,” FTC said.
NPR and NRC would affect all, not just Muslims. Both NPR and NRC are “hazardous to anyone who cannot show the documents of their birth and their parents.”
“As it has already happened in Assam, those who are poor, landless, women, minorities, Dalits, Adivasis, illiterates, and nomadic and migrant communities will be most affected to whichever religion they may belong,” FTC statement said.
“There is a lurking grave danger that most of them would be labeled ‘doubtful citizens, ‘and end up losing their citizenship and along with it, their basic fundamental rights such as rights to vote and own the property, and the constitutional privileges such as reservations,” the press note said.
“Thus, this process will result in the supremacy and domination of the Hindu ‘upper castes’ and lead toward establishing Hindu Rastra and undermine the Ambedkarian Constitution that was born out of Independent Struggle,” FTC explained.