The Telangana government on Monday passed a resolution in the Assembly opposing the National Population Register (NPR) and and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), urging the central government to withdraw the enumeration exercise because “there is fear and panic writ-large in the society about NRC”.

Addressing the Telangana Assembly, chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao said under the two processes citizens will be asked to prove citizenship by birth certificates, something that is not available with 90% of the people. “Under the NPR and NRC, the public will be asked to prove their citizenship. Ninety percent of the people have no official birth certificate to prove this. Will everyone be sent to the detention centre? This fear is haunting everyone. My appeal to the Centre is to stop NPR and NRC,” he said.

The Telangana Assembly resolution follows similar resolutions passsed by Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which was approved by the President in December. Opposition parties say the CAA, NPR and NRC, taken together, will adversely affect citizens.

Stating that the move has created a sense of insecurity among some sections of the population, the chief minister said, “There were protests across the country. The government should revisit its decision and withdraw the decision. The country’s image globally has taken a beating. It will impact the prospects of our children in the long run.”

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) is a key ally of Telangana Rashtra Samiti in Telangana where Muslims constitute around 12.7% per cent of the electorate. TRS made its stand clear in Parliament with its MPs opposing the Bill. The party’s opposition to the CAA was due to the exclusion of Muslims as the Indian Constitution does not discriminate on the basis of religion, KCR said.