Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan Denounces Implementation of CAA

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 which seeks to treat Muslims as second-class citizens, will not be implemented in Kerala.

At a press conference here, the chief minister termed the act "anti-constitutional" which would give legal validity to discrimination based on religion. The Centre on Monday announced the implementation of the controversial CAA for granting citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

The chief minister said the CAA is part of Sangh Parivar’s extreme Hindutva agenda. “They want to make gains in coming elections through such divisive politics and heinous acts. The central government’s move has also been questioned at the international level. The discriminatory nature of the CAA came up for criticism at the UN.

Pinarayi said the CAA is against the idea of India. “This toxic law has taken birth from the Sangh Parivar's devious Manusmriti brain which is against the constitution," he alleged.

"We have taken a firm stand right from the beginning that the anti-human, anti-constitutional CAA, NCR and NPR will not be implemented in the state. Kerala is the first state to move a plea against CAA in the Supreme Court. We approached the SC to reiterate that Kerala would not implement the contentious law," he added.

On the criticism about the LDF government’s failure to withdraw cases registered during anti-CAA protests in 2019, the chief minister said; ``a total of 629 cases in connection with CAA protests were quashed. The government also informed the court that 86 cases of the 206 would be withdrawn.”

He slammed the Congress for not taking a firm stand against the CAA. Initially, the Congress had come on board along with other non-BJP parties for joint protests against the CAA. However, later it toned down its stand. Congress leaders Malikkaarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and other top leaders are yet to come out strongly against the act.

Pinarayi said the Left parties and the LDF government were firm on opposing the divisive law. “Whatever may be the consequences we will neither bend nor become silent on the issue,” he said.