CAA brought to divert attention of the general people : Anand

Congress leader Anand Sharma on Tuesday said the Citizenship Amendment Act has been brought to divert the attention of the general people from "real" issues like economic slowdown, growing unemployment, agrarian distress and rising inflation.

Sharma, who is the chairman of department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, said the CAA violates the Assam Accord which had put the cut off date for detecting and deporting illegal immigrants at March 25, 1971.

The cut-off date in CAA is December 31, 2014, he said and alleged that the BJP government at the Centre did not take into account the sentiments of the Assamese people when setting it.

"Read the (Assam) Accord. I challenge those who are saying different things, including the chief minister (Sarbananda Sonowal) and his senior ministers. They (BJP government) did not take into account the sentiments of the people of Assam. The Assam Accord clearly mentions March 25, 1971 as the cut-off," Sharma told a press conference here.

Stressing that the Assam Accord has to be honoured in letter and spirit, the former union minister hoped that the Supreme Court will "uphold the Constitution, protect its basic structure and declare the CAA as unconstitutional" in its hearing on Wednesday.

On January 13, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said at the one-day special session of the state Assembly that the CAA does not violate the Assam Accord, but is aimed to address its "unresolved" issues.

Sharma said that the contentious law is aginst the basic structure of the Constitution. "The CAA is in direct conflict with the Constitution of the Republic of India. It fails the constitutionality test and the morality test. It has created a feeling of insecurity and fear throughout the country. It has plunged Assam and north east India in turmoil, he added.

Sharma termed the CAA as a "totally unnecessary" law as there are already enough provisions in the Constitution and enough power with the Government of India under the Citizenship Act to grant citizenship to people from other countries.

Citing examples, he said that lakhs of Tamil people of Indian origin who were expelled from Sri Lanka and others by the Idi Amin government in Uganda in the past decades had been granted citizenship under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

"Today there is no situation requiring amendment to the Citizenship Act and that also with a cut-off date of 2014. So what was the need for the CAA? They (The BJP-led government at the Centre) have no answer to that," Sharma said.

Asked if the state governments have the right to go against a central law, as has been done by passing Assembly resolutions by Punjab and Kerala, he said that the states can oppose and challenge an Act under Article 131 of the Constitution which they consider as unconstitutional.

"It is their constitutional right. If something unconstitutional is imposed the states can challenge it in the Supreme Court and that is what they have done. They are very much within their constitutional powers," Sharma added.

The Rajya Sabha MP claimed that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre has failed on all fronts and alleged that BJP is now seeking to divert attention of the masses from the "issues of bread and butter" by resorting to divisive politics by using CAA and other controversial steps.

"The Modi government has pushed India back by 20 years through its various wrong policies and decisions ... The BJP government's tenure will be remembered as a dark chapter in independent India's history.

"Narendra Modi will go down in history as a prime minister who ruined India's strong economy and dented India's credibility as a constitutional democracy and who is responsible for creating unprecedented fear and insecurity in the minds of the people," he said.

Continuing his attack, Sharma said Modi and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are "clueless about handling" the Indian economy which was the fastest growing economy.

The country's nominal GDP growth has collapsed and fallen to a 45-year low and the unemployment rate is at a 45-year high, he added.