New Delhi (Sputnik): The picturesque southern Indian state of Kerala has become the first of 28 states to officially oppose the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which has kept the nation on its toes since being rolled out on 12 December 2019.
Anti-CAA sentiment in Kerala can be summarised into a single development – the state has challenged the constitutionality of the CAA in the Supreme Court of India as an individual entity.
The coastal state has openly declared it will not implement the CAA and even passed a resolution against it in the state legislative assembly.
As Kerala openly stated its stance in its appeal to the Supreme Court against CAA, other Indian states including Rajasthan, West Bengal, and Maharashtra followed.
CAA, which entitled non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India before 2015 to apply for citizenships, has ignited outrage across the country. Violence-ridden protests and demonstrations have taken the country by storm.
On Thursday, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad criticised his government’s move to challenge a federal law in the apex court.
He further stated that the resolution passed in the state assembly, which openly challenges the decision of the federal government, was not legally valid.
According to Issac, CAA is much more than it seems.
The state of Kerala demonstrated a rare show of unity when the arch-rival political alliances in state – the ruling Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front – came together to voice their dissent against the new citizenship law brought in by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led federal government.
The new act, along with a proposed NRC – a supreme court monitored exercise to identify genuine citizens and deport illegal immigrants – are witnessing massive protests in different parts of the country, especially by the Muslim community which feels CAA is discriminatory in nature for granting citizenship on the basis of religion to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Jains, and Buddhists and conspicuously excluding Muslims.
However, the Indian Home Minister Amit Shah clarified in Parliament that no Indian Muslim has anything to fear with the passing of the law, with Prime Minister Modi asserting on 12 January that the “law gives citizenship and does not snatch it from anyone”.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
