Kerala CM: CAA has imperilled country’s constitutional values

Chief minister (CM) of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, on Sunday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) has “imperilled the nation’s constitutional values” and must

Chief minister (CM) of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, on Sunday said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) has “imperilled the nation’s constitutional values” and must be rejected.

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Speaking at ‘Mumbai Collective’, a two-day event at YB Chavan Centre, on Sunday, the Kerala CM said, “The amended citizenship law needs to be rejected for three reasons — as it is against the letter and spirit of the Constitution; is divisive, discriminatory and violates human rights; and as it seeks to impose the politics and philosophy of Hindutva.”

At his talk titled ‘The National Struggle against Communalism’, Vijayan also said that while CAA is being challenged in legislative assemblies, it must be resisted at all levels. “In our workplaces, in homes, educational institutions, messaging groups and public gatherings…discourses about the need to resist the communal onslaught need to take place.”

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule said that the Centre has been trying to distract people from real issues. “As a parliamentarian, I want to raise issues about GST, [and] the fact that Maharashtra has not got the money that was promised for Sangli and Kolhapur floods. People are being misled into forgetting all the real issues,” Sule said while talking about CAA. “We should understand one thing that irrespective of religion, this CAA-NRC [National Register of Citizens] is anti-poor,” she said.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who was present at the event, pointed out how the protests are uniting Muslims and non-Muslims, while actor Nandita Das, at another session, highlighted the importance of art in times when it is being “co-opted and used for propaganda”. Human rights activist Harsh Mander, meanwhile, said the impending dangers of CAA-NRC are terrifying. “This crisis won’t be resolved in courts or in Parliament...it would have to be fought on the streets and in our hearts.”

A professor from a city-based institute, at another session, said students must be allowed to voice their opinions, especially in technical institutes which are expected to be ‘apolitical’. “Some argue that politics is volatile. I want to ask them the same about exams. We know that some cheat, but do we stop exams because of this? What is the value of a chemical engineer who doesn’t understand politics in environmental issues?” he said.