First time in India's history a law discriminates people on religious grounds: Gehlot on CAA

For the first time in India's history a law has been enacted which discriminates people on religious grounds, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Saturday after the Assembly passed a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the contentious law.

It is the second Congress-ruled state after Punjab to pass such a resolution. Kerala Assembly too had passed a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF.

"Rajasthan Assembly has passed a resolution today against the CAA and we have urged the Central govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our Constitution," Gehlot said in a tweet.

In a series of tweets, he said the Constitution prohibits any kind of discrimination but "this is the first time in the history of the nation that a law has been enacted which discriminates people on religious grounds".

"It violates secular principles of our constitution and also Article 14 of our Constitution," he said, adding that Article 14 clearly states that the state shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.

"The term secular in the Constitution of India means that all the religions in India get equal respect, protection and support from the State. CAA aims to change this basic principle. For this very reason, CAA has been opposed across the country," Gehlot said.

The Rajasthan Assembly passed by voice vote the resolution which also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information proposed to be included in National Population Register (NPR), 2020.