New Delhi: Soon after President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday gave his assent to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, turning it into an Act, five states including West Bengal, Punjab, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have ruled out to implement the law in their states.
Lashing out at the BJP-led central government over the amended Citizenship Act, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she would not allow its implementation in the state "under any circumstances".
Addressing a press meet, Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, said the saffron party can't bulldoze the states to implement the law. "We will never allow the NRC exercise and Citizenship Act in Bengal. We will not implement the amended Act, even though it has been passed in Parliament. The BJP can't just bulldoze the states to implement it," Banerjee said.
Announcing a series of protest programmes across the state, the CM also said that she has cancelled her visit to Delhi to attend a meeting on the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi. "The Citizenship Act will divide India. As long as we are in power, not a single person in the state will have to leave the country," the chief minister added.
Following the path of West Bengal, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was a direct assault on India's secular character and the Parliament had "no authority" to pass a law that "defiled" the Constitution and violated its basic principles.
Any legislation that seeks to "divide the people of the country into religious lines is illegal and unethical, and could not be allowed to sustain," he said in a statement. The move is retrograde and regressive and seeks to take India back from the progressive charter mandated by its Constitution, he charged.
"By linking citizenship with religion, the Bill will hit at the very foundation of the nation.... What if other countries, where Indians are settled in large numbers and have acquired their citizenship, decide to bring in similar legislation? What will happen to those Indians if the countries of their stay decide to withdraw their citizenship on account of their religious beliefs?" the chief minister asked.
In a similar move, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday lashed out at the BJP-led government and said the "unconstitutional Bill" will have no place in Kerala and the state will not implement it. While asking the people to oppose the Bill, Vijayan claimed that the proposed law is a rejection of secularism and the saffron party has made it clear that its main political plank is communalism. "The Act is unconstitutional.. Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) will have no place in Kerala and it will not be implemented in the State," Vijayan told reporters.
The move has also been rejected by the Congress-led government states, such as Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Also Read: Anti-CAB stir: 3 die, 12 injured in police firing as Assam on boil
