AntiCAA voices of State MPs in Lok Sabha were not feeble

Six of the 20 Members of Parliament (MPs) from Kerala opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 while participating in the debate held after it was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 9, 2019.

Those who spoke against the Bill in the debate included five MPs belonging to the United Democratic Front (UDF) and A.M. Ariff, the lone MP of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from the State, in the 17th Lok Sabha.

The MPs of UDF who opposed it included E.T. Mohammed Basheer, Shashi Tharoor, N.K. Premachandran, P.K. Kunhalikutty, and Thomas Chazhikadan, according to data compiled by the nonprofit PRS Legislative Research.

Anto Antony of the UDF had opposed the Bill after raising it as a matter under Rule 377 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha on February 4, 2020.

Congress MP V.K. Sreekandan had asked two unstarred questions on the Bill on February 2, 2021 and March 23, 2021 respectively.

He also introduced a Private Member’s Bill titled ‘The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2023 (Amendment of section 18)’ on August 4, 2023.

The data was analysed after the statement made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his address at the antiCAA rally held in Kozhikode on March 22 that Mr. Ariff was the only MP from Kerala who raised his voice in the Lok Sabha against the amendment.

Opposing the Bill, Mr. Basheer of the Indian Union Muslim League said in his speech on December 9, 2019 that the government should not try to make any tag on secularism.

“It is the soul of the nation. If we make India for a particular religion, that is against the spirit of it. India is not of Hindus, Muslims, or Christians; India is of Indians,” he added.

Against Constitution

Mr. Tharoor said, “The Bill was not just an affront to the basic tenets of equality and religious nondiscrimination that have been enshrined in our Constitution, but also an allout assault on the very idea of India that our forefathers gave their lives for during the freedom struggle.”