The Telangana government is indulging in petty politics and minority appeasement, probably under the influence of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, in passing a Cabinet resolution against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), charged senior BJP leader and Union Railways, Industries Minister Piyush Goyal.

“It is sad and unfortunate that the K. Chandrasekhar Rao government has taken the stand against an Act passed by Parliament. It is nothing but insulting the Parliament, freedom fighters, Dr. Ambedkar and going against the Indian Constitution. I urge the government to take back the resolution,” he said on Tuesday.

At a press conference, flanked by his Cabinet colleague G. Kishan Reddy, TS party president K. Laxman and others, Mr. Goyal asserted that CAA is the “law of the land” and will have to be implemented as “in a federal structure the States cannot refuse to implement a Central law”.

The BJP leader said he was happy to note IT Minister K.T. Rama Rao talking of Centre-State cooperation in Delhi at a recent event but realised the scene was different here as TRS has joined other parties like Congress and Majlis in resorting to “scare mongering the minorities against the CAA and dividing people”.

“CAA has nothing to do with Indian nationals. There will be no harassment or injustice. The Act is only meant for religious minorities facing religious persecution in neighbouring Islamic nations. Where else will Sikhs, Jains, Christians and Hindus facing discrimination from these nations go? It is the duty of all Indians to provide them shelter,” he said.

The Modi government had never indulged in religious politics whereas it was the TRS government which gave “false assurances” on 12% quota for Muslims struck down by the High Court and now pending in the Supreme Court, maintained Mr. Goyal. Hence, it has no ethical right to comment on so called religious discrimination of the BJP government. “We never discriminated on religious grounds in any of our welfare schemes be it gas/power connections, housing, bank accounts, etc., as we believe all religions have equal rights,” he said.

With reference to recent Delhi polls, the Union Minister said even Arvind Kejriwal did not lend support to Shaheen Bagh protests and people vote on basis of various local issues too.