Hyderabad: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday said the fight against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and (CAA) the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is the fight to save the country and its constitution. He appealed to people to hoist the national flag atop their houses to protest against the CAA and NRC. Stating that this will be a long-drawn fight, the Hyderabad MP urged people to ensure peace for the struggle to succeed.

The Hyderabad MP made the appeal while addressing a huge protest meeting organized by United Muslim Action Committee, demanding rollback of CAA. "Hoist a national flag on your houses from tomorrow. All those who do this will be seen as the opponents of the black legislation," Owaisi told the meeting at Darussalam, the headquarters of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

Thousands of people, including many carrying national flag, attended the meeting, which continued till the early hours of Sunday. Owaisi also appealed to participants carrying the national flag to take them back to their homes and ensure that there is no disrespect to the tricolor.

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The MP read out the preamble of the Constitution of India first in Urdu and later in English and made the participants take oath. Owaisi said this was not a fight of Muslims alone. "There are Dalit, Scheduled Tribes and other in fight. A major part of country is with us," he said slamming Modi government for what he called running the country on the basis of religion. Stating that Indian Muslims are Indians both by choice and by birth, he said they rejected two-nation theory of Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

Owaisi said they were not against giving citizenship to people of other countries but religion should not be the basis for the same. He alleged that the government wants to make Muslims stateless. Owaisi said the momentum of the fight had to be maintained for 6-7 months, he said it could achieve the desired results if there is not violence.

On criticism by his rivals over alleged silence on the protest, Owaisi said he never played politics over bodies of the poor. "If necessary we will die first," he said.

Claiming that National Population Register (NPR) is the beginning of NRC, Owaisi requested Telangana government not to undertake the exercise.

Thanking Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for voting against CAA in Parliament, he urged Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao to stay NPR like Kerala.

Owaisi also appealed to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to reconsider his stand on CAA.

(with inputs from agencies)