Chennai: Rajinikanth has come out in support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) saying it will not affect Indian Muslims who chose India as their motherland during the partition in 1947. The actor claimed there was a lot of misleading information being spread on CAA due to the ulterior motives of some political parties and religious groups. Rajinikanth added that he would be the first to step out and rise in protest if and when CAA affects Indian Muslims. 


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Rajinikanth called the National Population Register (NPR) as necessary for India. "It is a must to conduct a census of the Indian population in 2021. Don't we need to know who are Indians and who are from outside? This is very important and I don't know what is the issue with this," stated the superstar.


Clarifying his stand on rumours related to the National Register of Citizens (NRC), Rajini stated that the procedure for the same hasn't started and deliberations were still underway about it. 


On the protests that have been taking place across major parts of the country over CAA-NRC, the actor cautioned students to not get misled by false propaganda and urged them to think logically and then make informed decisions after consulting with their elders and faculty before embarking on protests. 


When asked about CAA not having included Sri Lankan Tamils, Rajini stated that he was in favour of citizenship being granted to Tamil refugees who have been living in camps across Tamil Nadu for the last several years. However, he also added that the Tamils living in Sri Lanka must not be considered as they have been living there since the time of the Chola empire.


There have been protests in several parts of India ever since the CAA came into effect on January 10, 2020, under which Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians facing persecution in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh can seek citizenship of India. But those seeking citizenship under the act must be residing in India from December 31, 2014.