CAA unconstitutional, challenges idea of India; Cong silent: Pinarayi Vijayan

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday (March 14) said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was unconstitutional, against human rights, and poses a challenge to the idea of India. Vijayan also accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his party of staying silent on the issue.

Dig at Congress

Addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayan alleged that the law would legitimise religious discrimination, but the Congress was withdrawing from a united front against the CAA.

The chief minister said the Congress and its national president Mallikarjun Kharge were yet to comment on the recent notification of the CAA rules.

He said that the only reaction from the Congress was that by Jairam Ramesh, party general secretary and in-charge of communications, questioning why the rules were hurriedly notified now more than four years after the legislation was passed by the Parliament.

Soon after the Centre notified rules for the implementation of CAA, Kharge had said that it was a desperate attempt by the ruling party to engage in divisive politics. He had also questioned the timing of the decision, asking why the government chose to announce the notification just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls while it sat on it for four years and three months.

Kerala will neither bend nor keep silent

Vijayan contended that despite the lack of support from the Congress, the Kerala government will neither bend nor keep silent on the CAA issue.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently got the President's assent, but there were protests in several parts of the country against it, with many opposition parties speaking out against the law, calling it "discriminatory".

The Act grants citizenship to undocumented migrants of all religions -- except Muslims -- from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

(With inputs from agencies)