CAA | Only parliamentary law by Congress-led INDIA bloc govt can annul the Act, says Kerala Opposition Leader

Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has said only parliamentary legislation by a Congress-led INDIA bloc government can annul the “patently anti-Muslim” and schismatic Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has said only parliamentary legislation by a Congress-led INDIA bloc government can annul the “patently anti-Muslim” and schismatic Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

Inaugurating the Congress’s march to Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on March 13 to protest against the Centre’s notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, Mr. Satheesan termed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s steady refrain that Kerala would not implement the Central law a “Constitutional improbability aimed at deluding voters in Kerala”.

He pointed out that the States had little role in implementing the divisive CAA.

“Only parliamentary legislation can revoke the law passed by the Lok Sabha in 2019. The Congress is the only secular political force that could bring about such a legislative turnaround at the national level,” Mr. Satheesan said.

He said India risked backsliding into “an electoral autocracy” if the intrinsically Hindu majoritarian and nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ascended to power for a third term at the Centre.

Hence, Mr. Satheesan said it was imperative that secular forces buried their provincial differences and joined hands with the Congress to fight the Sangh Parivar.

Mr. Satheesan said the Sangh Parivar has struck at the very secular core of the Indian Constitution by setting religion as a criterion for citizenship.