Even as the Centre has paved way for the implementation of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said his government will not allow it in the state.
Pinarayi called the CAA 'a communally divisive law' and said the LDF government in Kerala remains firm on its position to not implement it. “Our government has repeatedly said that the Citizenship Amendment Act, which treats Muslim minorities as second-class citizens, will not be implemented,” Pinarayi said in a statement shortly after the Home Ministry's notified the rules.
"This can only be seen as the Sangh Parivar's agenda of Hindutva communalism," Pinarayi said. "The Sangh Parivar is adamant on implementing its communal agenda by ignoring public protests and criticisms."
Narendra Modi-led BJP government has been pressing for the implementation of the CAA for years. Now, with the CAA rules being issued, the Modi government can start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who came to India till December 31, 2014. These include Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians.
Meanwhile, the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has said the Centre notifying rules for the contentious CAA before the Lok Sabha polls were illegal. "We will challenge this in the court," said P K Kunhalikutty, General Secretary, IUML.
In 2019, the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution demanding scrapping the controversial CAA, becoming the first state in the country to do so.
