Kerala Assembly passes resolution against CAA
TRIVANDRUM: Kerala Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution against the new citizenship law of the federal government that critics say is anti-muslim.
Backed by the Congress-led principal opposition, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan moved the resolution demanding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) revoked.
All legislators barring O Rajagopal, the lone member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), supported him.
The southern state has been witnessing a series of protests against the law and the National Registry of Citizens for the last two weeks.
The state’s coalition government led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also arrested several Congress leaders, including its Kozhikode district president T Siddique.
CPM workers last week heckled Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi, student Aysha Renna at Kondotty in Malappuram when she demanded the release of jailed protesters in Kerala.
She had become the poster girl of CAA protests on campuses with the international media picking up her image of pointing the finger at the police beating up her colleagues.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) raised the demand for the special session to discuss its fallout during an all-party meeting on Sunday. Vijayan said the CAA was against the secular outlook and fabric of the country and it would pave the way for religion-based discrimination in granting citizenship.
“The Act contradicts the basic values and principles of the constitution,” the CPM politburo member said.
“Given the anxiety among the people, the federal government should take steps to drop the CAA and uphold the secular outlook of the constitution.” Rajagopal, the BJP member, objected to the resolution stating that it was “illegal” as both Houses of Parliament had passed the CAA.
Backing the resolution, opposition leader
Ramesh Chennithala said it was a draconian law that had to be opposed tooth and nail.
“The new law will divide India communally, and so we all should jointly fight it,” he said, seeking the government’s support to his petition against it in the Supreme Court.
“When the Citizenship Act was passed in 1955, it followed all international conventions. The present government has not followed the international conventions.” The UDF and the Cpm-led LDF had jointly held a sit-in before the Martyr’s Column on Dec 16. But the two fell apart after police highhandedness and arrests of protesters.