Under Constitution, citizenship is subject of Centre, not of State: Rajasthan Assembly Speaker

Contradicting Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Assembly Speaker, CP Joshi has said that the Government of India has passed the Citizenship Amendment Act and State government has to implement it as under the Constitution, citizenship is a subject of the Centre, not of the State.

"Under the Constitution, citizenship is a subject of the Centre and not of the State," said Joshi at the annual award distribution ceremony of Mira Girls College in Udaipur February 7.

"State governments can make laws only on the subjects of the concurrent list like the Center made the law under the Motor Vehicle Act. The region of the state will not implement it, but the law is that if the central government has made a law in the corporate subject, no state can make a law against it," he added.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has repeatedly declared that CAA and NRC will not be implemented in the State. Protests have been going on in various parts of the country against the newly amended citizenship law since December last year.

The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and if they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.