CAA unconstitutional, challenge to idea of India; Cong silent: Kerala CM

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that the Citizenship Amendment Act was unconstitutional, against human rights, and poses a challenge to the idea of India and accused Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his party of staying silent on the issue.

Vijayan, at a press conference here, alleged that the contentious legislation grants legal validity to religious discrimination, but the Congress was withdrawing from a united front against the CAA.

In addition, the CM said, the Congress and its national president Mallikarjun Kharge were yet to comment on the recent notification of the CAA rules.

He said that the only reaction from the Congress was that by Jairam Ramesh, party general secretary and in-charge of communications, questioning why the rules were hurriedly notified now more than four years after the legislation was passed by the Parliament.

Vijayan contended that despite the lack of support from the Congress, the Kerala government will neither bend nor keep silent on the CAA issue.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently got the President's assent, but there were protests in several parts of the country against it, with many opposition parties speaking out against the law, calling it "discriminatory".

The Act grants citizenship to undocumented migrants of all religions -- except Muslims -- from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.