Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act, asking the Centre to cancel the contentious legislation that has triggered countrywide protests. The resolution was supported by all the MLAs except BJP's O Rajagopal.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had moved the resolution against the CAA. Vijayan, who has accused the BJP government of executing the RSS agenda of dividing the nation on communal lines by passing the Act, said in the state assembly, “I want to make it clear that no detention centres will come up in Kerala. Kerala has a long history of secularism, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, everyone reached our land. Christians and Muslims reached Kerala in the very beginning. Our tradition is of inclusiveness. Our assembly needs to keep the tradition alive.”
Calling the implementation of CAA a “violation of the fundamental right of equality”, the Kerala CM said, “The CAA 2019 passed by both houses of the Parliament has created concern among various communities, there has also been state wide protest against the same. In Kerala there has been a peaceful and untied agitation in general (against the CAA). The Act, which has set new guidelines for granting citizenship, is a violation of the fundamental right of equality as mentioned in the part III of the Constitution.”
A day after the Citizenship Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on December 11, Vijayan had lashed out at the Narendra Modi-led government and said the "unconstitutional Bill" will have no place in Kerala and the state will not implement it. While asking the people to oppose the Bill, Vijayan had claimed that the proposed law is a rejection of secularism and the saffron party had made it clear that its main political plank is communalism.
He said India is well-known as a nation where people belonging to various castes, creed and religions live together harmoniously.
Vijayan He reiterated the same sentiment on Tuesday, saying the Indian constitution is a milestone in the fight towards citizen rights and a society based on equality and is based on democracy, secularism, equality and scientific temper.
“National freedom movement was a convergence of various streams. The Indian constitution took shape with the essence of modern democracy and secular perspectives from such movements. Indian nationalism is based on lives and cultures of various communities. This is one reason the constitution has uphold the idea of unity in diversity,” he said.
Both the Congress and the CPI (M) supported the move in state Assembly, with Congress's VD Satheesan saying, “The NRC and CAA are the two sides of the same coin. The CAA is a clear violation of Article 13,14 and 15 of the Constitution.”
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