KALABURAGI: The CPI(M) welcomes the Supreme Court suggestion for constitution of a separate body for the trial of cases related to the defection of elected representatives, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said here on Wednesday. “It was the stand of the party from the start, that a separate body should inquire and decide the defection of MLAs and MPs, instead of entrusting the powers to Speakers of Lok Sabha and state legislatures, who owe allegiance to their parent party,” Yechury told a presser.
“The BJP government at the Centre is bent on implementing a hardcore Hindutva agenda, and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) are the first step towards it,” he alleged. On statements by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah that Opposition parties were disrespecting Parliament by instigating protests, Yechury said, “BJP itself has disrespected the Constitution. The CAA, NPR and NRC are very much against the preamble of the Constitution. We (opposition parties) are trying to protect it.”
He added, “Both the PM and home minister are acting like the British who ruled us before Independence. We fought the British and now the people are fighting against CAA, NPR and NRC, and will make the government withdraw it or it will dethrone the BJP in future elections.” All patriots will take a pledge on Republic Day to protect the Constitution by opposing CAA and not giving any responses to NPR enumerators, and not showing documents to NRC enumerators, he added.
Yechury asked non-BJP governments to pass resolutions in their assemblies against CAA, NPR and NRC.
When his attention was drawn to Amit Shah’s statement that assemblies cannot pass such resolutions, he suggested that BJP leaders read the Constitution.