Kerala’s chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, reiterated on Saturday that his government would not implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and said his government would not favor such an “unfortunate situation” in the state.
His comment comes days after Interior Minister Amit Shah said that process of granting citizenship to refugees under the CAA it would begin after the Covid-19 vaccination process ends. Shah had said that the implementation of the law should be kept on hold as a result of the pandemic.
“The country’s interior minister recently said that the CAA will be implemented once the vaccination process is complete. We have made our position very clear. This government will not favor such a sorry situation in the state. We will not support it and we will not implement it, ”Vijayan said at the inauguration of the LDF North Region yatra at Uppala in Kasaragod district ahead of the Assembly elections later this summer.
“Some people asked us, ‘How can you say, as a government, that you will not implement it?’ I will tell them that if we say we will not implement it, we will not do it, “he added.
The Citizenship Amendment Act seeks to grant Indian citizenship to religious minorities, except Muslims, of India’s three Muslim-majority neighboring countries: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
“We can discuss development issues. But instead, certain people are trying to divert attention by provoking the public through communalism. It won’t do the state any good. Communalism is a danger to the state and we must be able to sweep it away, ”Vijayan said, holding both the RSS and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) responsible for inflicting communal sentiments on society.
In December 2019, the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution demanding the dismantling of the CAA, stating that it was against the secular perspective and fabric of the country. Both the LDF and the UDF MLA had voted in favor of the resolution and the sole BJP MLA disagreed against it.
On Saturday, the yatra of the northern region of the LDF, headed by the acting secretary of the CPM, A Vijayaraghavan, marked the beginning of the electoral preparations of the left-wing coalition. Another yatra, led by CPI leader Binoy Vishwam, left Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday and headed from the southern part of the state. Both yatras will culminate in the same place at the end of the month.
In a speech that lasted almost 50 minutes, the prime minister stated that the people of the state have already made a decision on the return of the LDF government. He went on to list the government’s achievements in various sectors.
“We have increased the social assistance pension from 600 rupees in 2016 to 1600 rupees. There are no defaults. Could this happen if it weren’t for the LDF? Will someone else care for the poor? In 2016, there were 34 lakh welfare pension recipients. Today, it has crossed 59 lakhs. That means 25 lakh more people have been put under the net under this government. We have spent Rs 32,034 crore alone on welfare pensions, ”he said.
“The PDS rationing system has changed. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we made sure that the free ration was implemented very well because we did not want the poor to have problems in any way, “he added.
The CM said work has already started on the semi-high-speed rail network that will help people travel from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram in just four hours. He said the state government has done everything possible to make progress despite numerous tragedies such as Cyclone Ockhi in 2017, the Nipah infection wave and worst floods of the century in 2018, the severity of the monsoon in 2019 and the pandemic of Covid-19 in progress.
“The government wanted people to come together and the results have been fruitful. We were able to collectively face these tragedies. What was considered impossible has become possible, ”said Vijayan.
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