NE NEWS SERVICE
JAIPUR, JAN 25
The Rajasthan Assembly on Saturday passed a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). With this, the state became the third one to do so after Kerala and Punjab. The opposition BJP has strongly protested the Congress government move.
As soon as state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal presented the resolution in the Assembly, BJP MLAs went on the offensive with some of them crowding into the well of the House and shouted slogans.
However, the resolution was passed later in the afternoon.
So far Kerala and Punjab are the two states which have passed resolutions against the new citizenship law CAA.
The ruling Congress resolution says CAA flouts the basic nature of the Constitution and that a substantial section of people believes that the National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) have the same base. The Census should continue only after taking back the new provision as introduced in NPR, it read.
The resolution further says that amendments introduced recently under CAA “divide people on religious grounds” and also “deprive a particular community of availing Indian citizenship”.
It said many people will face inconveniences with the proposed additional information as sought under the CAA. Assam is a living example, it said.
It demanded the Centre revoke amendments in CAA and clear doubts on NPR.
“Our Constitution clearly says India is a secular nation and Article 14 makes it clear that no person in the territory of India will be deprived of equality before the law or equal protection of laws. The goal of the Citizenship Amendment Act-2019 i.e. CAA is to differentiate illegal immigrants based on religion”.
It said after independence, for the first time in the history of the country, such a law has been brought which differentiates people based on religion. This will put the country’s secular fabric at risk.
“No provision has been made in the CAA regarding migrants from other neighboring countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal, and Bhutan, which raises many questions,” it added.
After the passage of the resolution, state Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said: “Rajasthan Assembly has passed a resolution today against the CAA and we have urged the Central govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our Constitution.”
“Our Constitution prohibits any kind of discrimination. This is the first time in the history of the nation that a law has been enacted which discriminates people on religious grounds. It violates secular principles of our constitution and also Article 14 of our Constitution,” tweeted Gehlot.
Demanding repeal of the law, he said: “Article 14 clearly states that the State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India. CAA violates this article therefore it should be repealed. The term secular in the Constitution of India means that all the religions in India get equal respect, protection and support from the State. CAA aims to change this basic principle. For this very reason, CAA has been opposed across the country.”
Kerala passed the resolution on December 31 and Punjab on January 17.
CAA seeks to give Indian citizenship only to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains, and Christians who migrated to India without travel documents from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan on or before December 31, 2014.
Since CAA was passed by the Parliament on December 11, there have been nationwide protests against the law. In the last one and half months, millions of people have hit streets across the country protesting against CAA-NRC-NPR. Thousands of women are holding round-the-clock sit-in demanding the withdrawal of the controversial citizenship law.
