Coming in strong support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy slammed the opposition party in the state Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) for opposing it, asking them to show which community is affected by it. The CM said that the CAA would not take away the citizenship of any Indian, therefore, no Indian citizen will be affected by it.
Chief Minister EPS challenged the opposition in the Tamil Nadu assembly in response to DMK MLA Mano Thangaraj, who wanted the state to pass a resolution against CAA passed by the centre in the month of December 2019. Refusing the resolution, the CM said that DMK was misleading people by saying that CAA is against minorities, and asked them to show proof for that claim.
Mano Thangaraj had alleged that ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Khazhagam (AIADMK) has submitted itself to the centre so they are not passing any resolution against Citizenship Amendment Act like other Indians states such as West Bengal followed by the communist state of Kerala.
EPS immediately intervened and said, “you have been saying this repeatedly and misleading the people of the nation. Who has been affected by this? Tell us? We will find a solution.”
Roaring in the Tamil Nadu assembly, Chief Minister EPS affirmed, “Point out and tell us which minority community person born in Tamil Nadu and living in Tamil Nadu has been affected. We will respond to it. Without doing that you (the opposition) are misleading the people, enacting a drama, spreading wrong information and have affected the peace in the state. Tell me, who has been affected. I will reply to that.”
The statement of CM EPS came following anti-CAA protests in Chennai. On Friday, anti-CAA protests in Chennai’s Washermanpet turned violent when a group of protestors clashed and pelted stone at the police injuring four police personnel including a woman joint commissioner, two women constables and a sub-inspector.
Earlier Superstar Rajnikanth defended the centre on Citizenship Amendment Act clarifying that CAA is not going to affect any Muslim if it does, then he’ll be the first one to stand for them.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray also defended the CAA, going against the position of allies Congress and NCP. He said that there is nothing to worry about as it does not apply to Indian citizens. He also said that NPR is just a census and there is nothing to fear about it also as it happens every ten years. He added that NRC has not been initiated by the central govt, and it will not be implemented in the state.
Citizenship Amendment Act was enacted in December 2019 which turned controversial when mass agitations and protest burst out in several parts of the country. The CAA proposes to give citizenship to six religious minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan through a process of Naturalisation.
