Hyderabad parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday questioned the exclusion of passports as proof of citizenship during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, even as he maintained that the move has left many electors apprehensive of being rendered “stateless in their own country”.

Mr Owaisi, who is the president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, was speaking to the media on the first day of the SIR exercise in Telangana. “Given the path the country is taking, it appears that a BJP membership card will become the citizenship card,” he said.

Citing provisions of the law, Mr Owaisi said passports were issued only to Indian citizens after mandatory police verification. “The Telangana Police received the first prize, by the DGP, for completing police verification in four days. Yet a passport is not proof. Aadhaar is not proof. Voter ID is not proof. What is the proof then?” he asked.

He said citizenship certificates were issued only to persons acquiring citizenship through registration or naturalisation. The overwhelming majority of Indians inherited citizenship by birth. “Your grandparents and great-grandparents were born in India, not through naturalisation. Where will you get a citizenship certificate from? This means that if the government wants, it can say you are not a citizen,” he said.

On Iran’s invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the final rites of the slain Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, Mr. Owaisi said the Prime Minister should accept the invitation. “The Prime Minister should go to the funeral. When the PM went and said that ‘I stand with Israel’, he should also accept the invitation and go to Iran. Our foreign policy is that we are with all and look for the benefit of our country. We went to Israel and put all our effort there. Now look what happened,” he said.

Mr. Owaisi said the Prime Minister’s presence at the funeral would send “very strong messaging not only to everyone but to the Global South.”