NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, MARCH 14
Muslim leaders from various political outfits and organisations urged the state government to pass a resolution to stop implementation of National Population Register (NPR) exercise in the state, as it will be a threat not only to Muslims but others too.
This was echoed at the meeting of Muslim leaders convened by the Chief Secretary Shanmugam at the secretariat on Saturday.
The meeting which began at 4 p.m. lasted for over one and a half hours. Allaying the fears of Muslim leaders, the Chief Secretary said that the meeting was organised on the directions of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to apprise about the constitutional and legal issues on Citizenship Amendment Act, National Population Register and also the NRC.
“The Chief Secretary thanked the leaders for the Shaheen Bagh like protest organised the Muslim organisations across the state and expressed his concern that if such pro-CAA protests erupt, it will create trouble and may lead to violence,’’ a leader who took part in the meeting said.
In the wake of the COVID-19 threat, the Chief Secretary had sought the cooperation of the leaders to end the protests and mass gatherings like Shaheen Bagh and help the government to contain the spreading of the disease. Shanmugam said that the Chief Minister will see to it that not even a single citizen from the minority community affected by NPR.
The Federation of Tamil Nadu Muslim political parties and organisations submitted the memorandum mentioning the demand by the Muslim community addressed to the Chief Minister.
The Muslim leaders expressed their fear and suspicion of losing citizenship has led the people to protest and oppose the CAA NPR NRC.
In his concluding remarks, the Chief Secretary has assured that he will convey the feedback received from the leaders of the Muslim community and their sentiments to the Chief Minister.
Director General of Police Tripathi and other top government officials participated in the meeting.
