The Tamil Nadu government led by AIADMK on Wednesday clarified in the Tamil Nadu state assembly that no resolution against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be adopted because that will be amounting to cheating the public.
Revenue Minister RB Udhayakumar in a response to an issue raised by DMK leader MK Stalin said, “The Leader of Opposition MK Stalin demands to adopt a resolution against CAA. But he knows well that a resolution adopted by the State Assembly will not be binding on legislation enacted by Parliament. So, adopting such a resolution will be akin to cheating the people.”
Repeating that minorities need not have any fears over the NPR, the minister said, “All cases relating to CAA will be dealt with only by the Supreme Court. Hence, the House should ponder over how adopting a resolution against the CAA, an issue contested before the apex court will safeguard the interests of the people here.”
Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said, “AIADMK has been safeguarding the interests of all sections of the people for over four decades. So, the AIADMK government will check any trouble for minorities including Muslims and Christians.”
Udhayakumar also clarified that the central government is yet to respond to the state government’s letter seeking clarifications regarding certain questions in NPR 2020. He also stated that only difference between the format for carrying out NPR 2010 and NPR 2020 was the additional three questions relating to the details about the native place, date of birth of parents and spouse, mother tongue, Aadhar card and Driving License number added in the format for NPR 2020.
TN Udhayakumar said, “The Opposition demands that these questions should be dropped. In the same vein, the state government has also urged the Centre to avoid these questions during NPR. But we did not ask the Centre to give up NPR itself since it was carried out already during the UPA government in 2010. The state government has, so far, has not issued any notification for NPR 2020.”
Referring to parties which had earlier supported the CAA and later changed their stand, Stalin said, “As such, the Tamil Nadu government should adopt a resolution in the State Assembly that the NPR which would pave way for the NRC in future will not be carried out in the state. It is crystal clear that NPR 2020 is being carried out only for facilitating NRC. NPR would divide people on the basis of religion and this would affect the plurality of the country. Hence the state government should adopt a resolution saying NPR in the present format will not be carried out in Tamil Nadu.”
Since the ruling party indicated that no resolution will be adopted against CAA, Stalin walked out with his party. MLAs belonging to the Congress and IUML and Thameemun Ansari, an MLA who is an ally of AIADMK followed suit.
Earlier, Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswamy had strongly defended the CAA, challenging the opposition to show any minority in India that will be affected by it.
