After Kerala and Punjab, Rajasthan passes anti-CAA resolution in assembly – india news

The government in Rajasthan on Saturday passed a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the state assembly with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly protesting the move led by the ruling Congress.

Rajasthan became the third state in the country after Kerala and Punjab to pass a resolution against the amended citizenship law.

BJP legislators went on the offensive with some of them crowding into the well of the House and shouted slogans as soon as the state’s parliamentary affairs minister Shanti Dhariwal presented the resolution in the assembly.

The Congress resolution said CAA flouts the basic nature of the Constitution and that a substantial section of people believes that National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) have the same base.

It also said the the Census should continue only after taking back the new provision as introduced in NPR, it read.

The resolution further said that the amendments introduced recently under CAA ”divides people on religious grounds” and also “deprive a particular community of availing Indian citizenship”.

It said many people will face inconveniences with the proposed additional information as sought under the CAA. Assam is a living example, it said.

It demanded the Centre revoke amendments in CAA and clear doubts on NPR.

“Our Constitution clearly says India is a secular nation and Article 14 makes it clear that no person in the territory of India will be deprived of equality before law or equal protection of laws. The goal of the Citizenship Amendment Act-2019 i.e. CAA is to differentiate illegal immigrants on the basis of religion,” according to the resolution.

Such a law has been brought which differentiates people on the basis of religion for the first time in the history of the country, it said. This will put the country’s secular fabric at risk.

“No provision has been made in the CAA regarding migrants from other neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan, which raises many questions,” it added.

The CAA grants Indian citizenship to refugees from Hindu, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and Parsi communities fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.