The chief minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu MK Stalin has moved a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, well-known as CAA, reports The Indian Express.
Having done that on Tuesday, Stalin said the law is not in tune with the secular principles laid down in Indian constitution and is also not conducive to the communal harmony that prevails in the country.
The CAA passed by the Indian parliament on December 11, 2019, aims to fast-track citizenship for persecuted Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who arrived in India before December 31, 2014, from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
It came amid vehement criticism from the opposition that pointed out the communal agenda behind the law as it conspicuously left out Muslims.
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As per established democratic principles, a country should be governed taking into consideration the aspirations and concerns of the people belonging to all sections of the society, the chief minister said.
“But, it is clearly seen that the CAA was passed in such a way that it does not accord warm support to the refugees considering their plight, but instead discriminates them according to their religion and their country of origin,” Stalin said.
He went on saying that, therefore, to uphold the unity and communal harmony in the country and to uphold the secular principles enshrined in the constitution of India, the house resolves to urge the Union Government to repeal the CAA.
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He added that CAA is not required and refugees should be seen as fellow human beings. Stalin further said they have been made to protest as the Union Government hasn’t bothered about the Sri Lankan Tamils while passing the law.
Even before the resolution was tabled, the opposition parties AIADMK, BJP staged a walkout in the assembly. Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami claimed that they were denied an opportunity to speak in the assembly and added that the welfare scheme rolled out during the tenure of the AIADMK government had been stalled by the ruling government.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) legislature party leader Nainar Nagendran said the CAA has absolutely nothing against Muslim people. “The CM today speaks of communal harmony, but does not even greet people for Hindu festivals including Ganesh Chaturthi and Deepavali,” he said.
