Bengal falls a small step behind Kerala on CAA: Sougata Roy

Veteran TMC party leader Sougata Roy said that the West Bengal government has fallen behind its Kerala counterpart which has passed a resolution against CAA in the Assembly after the new law came into being.

Kolkata:Embarrassing the Trinamool Congress on the CAA issue, veteran party leader and Lok Sabha member Sougata Roy on Saturday said that the West Bengal government has fallen behind its Kerala counterpart which has passed a resolution in the Assembly after the new law came into being.

Kerala is ruled by Trinamool's bete noire CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front.

"I must give credit, not to CPI-M, but to (Kerala Chief Minister) Pinarayi Vijayan. He has passed a resolution in the Assembly against CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) by taking along all the parties. The Punjab government has passed the resolution and then moved the Supreme Court Against the act," Roy said while addressing a party workshop on the new law.

Trinamool chief whip in the state Assembly Nirmal Ghosh tried to control the damage by mentioning that a resolution was passed in the House against the NRC much before Punjab and Kerala.

But Roy did not budge.

"Kerala has done it in a more organised way. Punjab is also doing it. They have adopted resolution after the CAA was passed.

"In our assembly, we have passed a resolution against the communal politics of the BJP. All parties, except BJP, backed the resolution. But it was done before the CAA was passed. So in that way, we are a small step behind Kerala," he said.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) seeks to provide Indian nationality to Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists fleeing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh before December 31, 2014.

As per the Act, such communities will not be treated as illegal immigrants now and will be given Indian citizenship.