Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that the Union government’s decision to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was a strategic move to deport the Rohingya refugees from the country.
Speaking at a rally organised by the Left Democratic Front against the CAA on Kozhikode beach on Friday, he alleged that through the Act India had violated the universal outlook towards refugees and hence has been isolated by the world.
“The United Nations Organisation, Amnesty International and world nations have condemned India’s action of making religion a criterion for citizenship,” he said.
Explaining the history of the CAA, Mr. Vijayan said that the Constitution offered equal rights not just to the citizens of the country but any one living here and that a division based on religion was not supported by the Constitution.
“Kerala was the first State to declare that it would not support the implementation of either CAA, National Population Register or the National Citizenship Register. It was also the first State to approach the Supreme Court against the CAA,” he said, giving an account of the protests organised across the country against the Act when the Bill was initially passed by Parliament.
“A lot of people in the country are anxious about their future, whether they can continue to stay here, especially when the Sangh Parivar has openly declared that outsiders will be expelled at the earliest,” he said announcing that the Act would not be implemented in Kerala.
He did not spare the opportunity to take a dig at the Congress questioning the stand of its national leadership on the CAA issue. He alleged that Congress MPs had stayed out of protests against CAA in Parliament, and pointed out the party’s ‘Criminal silence’ on the issue.
The rally turned out to be a campaign ground for the two LDF candidates for the Lok Sabha polls in the district Elamaram Kareem and K.K. Shailaja. The former presided over the event. The latter in her address later requested the public to vote for and promised to continue raising their voice against CAA in Parliament.
Several leaders from the Muslim community like State Haj Committee Chairman Mohammed Faizi, Samastha Kerala Jamyathul Ulama leader Musthafa Mundupara, president of Muslim Educational Society Fazal Gafoor and I.P. Abdul Salam of the Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen were present on the occasion. Thousands of people participated in the rally.
