While addressing a public meeting in Hyderabad, Owaisi said, “Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said the 12 lakh Hindus not listed in the NRC that was conducted in the state will be given Indian citizenship under the CAA. But what about the 1.5 lakh Muslims?”

According to Owaisi, Muslims who are left out of the NRC list will be asked to prove their descent by tracing their ancestry from 1962 or even 1951 at the Foreigners’ Trinunal.

“They will be asked if they came in 1962 or 1951. They will be asked to show documents and birth certificates of their grandfathers. Those 1.5 lakh Muslims will be asked to fight it out at the Foreigners’ Tribunal,” the AIMIM chief said as quoted by ANI.

“They (BJP) are saying nothing is going to happen immediately. I want to tell them, that it takes time for things to unfold,” he added.

He also pointed out that, “Home Minister Amit Shah said in Parliament that NPR and NRC will also be implemented. Did he not talk about NPR and NRC in TV interviews?” 

While speaking about the NRC exercise in Assam in which a sizeable chunk of the population found their names missing in the final list, the AIMIM chief said, “The Supreme Court directed the government to conduct NRC in Assam. After spending ₹1,600 crore, the NRC was conducted in Assam under the watch of the Supreme Court. 19 lakh individuals were not listed in it. Among them, 10-12 lakh were Hindus and 1.5 lakh Muslims.”

Owaisi, however, said he was open to the idea of granting citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries but the methodology followed for that should not be based on religion. “The government must give citizenship to people who come from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, but on the basis of religion,” he said.

Meanwhile on Monday, Union Home Ministry notified the rules for implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The CAA rules, introduced by the Centre and passed by the Parliament in 2019, aim to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014. SC will be hearing multiple pleas seeking a stay on the implementation of CAA rules. After senior advocate Kapil Sibal raised the issue, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud scheduled the hearing for next week on March 19.

(With inputs from ANI)

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Published: 16 Mar 2024, 09:37 AM IST