Thrissur: Malayalam actor and NDA candidate from Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, Suresh Gopi, has said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will help to alleviate poverty in India.
"Poverty alleviation is the need of the entire population of this country. Poverty alleviation is going to happen and for that CAA is essential," said Gopi while addressing media persons on the sidelines of his campaign in Peechi here on Monday.
The Narendra Modi-led Centre had earlier on the day notified the rules for implementation of CAA in the country. Shortly after, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said his government would firmly oppose the Act intended to 'communally divide' the country.
Gopi refuted the claim made by the Kerala CM and said the people of the state will wholeheartedly accept the CAA. “The Chief Minister can just fool the people by saying that it will not be implemented in Kerala. CAA is the need of the hour in the country and Kerala is indeed part of India,” Gopi said. He added that the implementation of the CAA will benefit the NDA in the upcoming General Elections.
Gopi is one of the star candidates contesting the General Elections from Kerala. He was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gopi contested from the same constituency, but ended up third behind Congress' T N Prathapan and CPI's Rajaji Mathew.
This time, Gopi will be up against Congress' K Muraleedharan, brother of Padmaja Venugopal, who recently joined the BJP. CPI's V S Sunil Kumar is the LDF candidate in Thrissur.
The CAA received the Parliament's approval in December 2019 and thereafter got the President's assent. However, widespread protests were held throughout the country as opposition parties labelled the Act 'discriminatory'. Over 100 people lost their lives during the anti-CAA protests.
With the unveiling of the rules, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- who came to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014.
