DMK govt will never allow CAA in TN; it's against Sri Lankan refugees, Muslims: Stalin

Chennai, Jan 31 (PTI) Chief Minister M K Stalin asserted on Wednesday that the DMK government would never allow the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) to be implemented in Tamil Nadu, as it discriminates against certain groups of people such as Muslims and Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the country.

Stalin, who is on a foreign tour to attract investments to the state, cited Union Minister Shantanu Thakur's assertion on January 29 that the CAA would be rolled out within seven days across the country, and blamed the state's main opposition AIADMK for voting in favour of the amendment when it was taken up in Parliament.

Expressing his stance on social media platform X, Chief Minister Stalin criticised the opposition AIADMK, saying if it were not for that party's support to the Citizenship Amendment Bill, it may not have become a law. He pointed out that the legislation discriminates against Sri Lankan Tamils refugees and Muslims.

On Monday, Union Minister and BJP leader Shantanu Thakur claimed that the CAA would be implemented across India within the next seven days.

"Within the next week, CAA will be implemented not only in West Bengal but also across the country," Thakur had said at a public meeting in Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

When the DMK was earlier in the opposition in Tamil Nadu, the party staged protests against the CAA and conducted a signature campaign demanding that the legislation be repealed. After the party assumed power in 2021, the state government passed a resolution in the legislative assembly urging the Centre to withdraw the CAA, he pointed out.

Remarking that the people are bearing witness to the BJP government's actions that "go against communal harmony" and the AIADMK's "drama", Stalin vowed that the DMK government would not implement the controversial law.

Speaking about the AIADMK, he was evidently referring to the party's severing of ties with the BJP. The DMK has been maintaining all along that this move of the principal opposition party in the state was mere drama aimed at deceiving the people. PTI