Kerala CM Pinarayi accuses Congress of keeping silent on CAA in manifesto

Kollam (Kerala), Apr 9 (PTI) Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday slammed the Congress for allegedly being silent about the Citizenship Amendment Act in their election manifesto and alleged that it reflects their fear to speak about the contentious act.

Addressing a press conference here, he said the grand old party, in the manifesto for upcoming Lok Sabha polls, has promised to repeal many other laws which violated the Constutional norms, including the GST, if they come back to power.

But, it should be seen that even when all these laws are promised to be repealed, not a single word is uttered about the CAA, he alleged.

"It can be seen that the CAA has been deliberately set aside in the manifesto without mention. This shows that the Congress, which promises to repeal several laws by particularly naming them in the manifesto, is afraid to speak about it," the chief minister said.

He also questioned the claim of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, V D Satheesan, that the party manifesto clearly mentions the protection being assured to the linguistic and religious minorities in the country.

The chief minister said on page 8 of the Congress manifesto, the party promises to uphold the fundamental right to practice one's faith and the rights guaranteed to religious minorities under Articles 15, 16, 25, 26, 28, 29, and 30 of the Constitution. But the Congress does not address the issue being raised by the CAA with this, he said.

"The CAA is essentially a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution. What should be noted here is that Article 14 is not mentioned on page 8 of the manifesto (as Satheesan said)," the Left veteran added.

Stating that the Congress, in its manifesto, promised to review and change all anti-people laws passed by the BJP-NDA especially those relating to workers, farmers, criminal justice, environment, forests and digital data protection, Vijayan said it was good and the CPI(M) also agreed to it.

The Citizenship (Amendment) bill was passed in Parliament in December 2019 and subsequently got the President's assent, following which protests broke out in several parts of the country against it, with many opposition parties speaking out against the law, calling it "discriminatory".

The CAA, which was notified on January 10, grants Indian citizenship to non-Muslim minorities -- Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian -- who migrated to India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh till December 31, 2014. PTI