THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Taking strong exception to the state assembly passing a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Union Law Minister Ravishankar Prasad on Tuesday said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should take better legal advice and added that the law passed by Parliament is binding on one and all and the state assemblies have no power to pass any law on citizenship.
“I urge the chief minister to have better legal advice. I also urge the assembly leaders to think what will happen if the law passed by the state assembly is not respected by other states,” Prasad said. “Under Article 246, Parliament has got the exclusive power to make a law on citizenship. State assemblies cannot do that,” he said.
The state assembly on Tuesday, hours before Prasad was to address the media here, had passed the resolution demanding scrapping of the CAA citing it was contrary to constitutional provisions.
Justifying CAA, Prasad said the act was perfectly legal and constitutional and added that “it was not related to Indians, including Muslims. It’s only for persecuted minorities of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.”
Prasad said previous Congress prime ministers had provided citizenship to Hindus from Uganda and Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka, and when Narendra Modi or Amit Shah is doing it, it’s a problem.
“This is double standard and hypocrisy,” he felt. He also strongly batted for National Population Register (NPR), which was also objected to by the state government, saying it was required for framing development policies.
The minister conveyed that the government was ready for holding discussions on the matter, but “some people have political agenda and a misinformation campaign is going on to promote communal hostility. Singling out the Congress party, he said he was worried that the party that had ruled the country for 55 years is part of the misinformation campaign. Training guns on the radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), he said there was allegation that the organisation was behind the protests. “We have dossiers about them, including their activities in Kerala.” When asked about the reports that the Uttar Pradesh DGP has recommended the Home Ministry to impose a ban on PFI, he said the UP police chief may be having evidence and the Home Ministry will look into it.
Support for Governor
Prasad condemned the heckling of Governor Arif Mohammad Khan during the Indian History Congress and said the action was uncalled for. “Irfan Habib is a Leftist and was one of the signatories of the public statement issued in 2014 urging people not to vote for Modi,”he said.