Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday wrote to 11 of his counterparts on the issue of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, appealing to them to take measures in order to prevent the implementation of the law in their states.
The move came days after the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution demanding scrapping of the CAA amid raging countrywide protests against the legislation. The ruling CPI(M)-LDF and the Opposition Congress led UDF supported the resolution while BJP's lone MLA and former Union minister O Rajagopal was the only dissenting voice in the day-long special session on Tuesday.
Kerala became the first state to take such a course amid the continuing protests against the citizenship law.
Vijayan, who has been strident in his opposition to the CAA, wrote to chief ministers of 11 states, including Bihar's Nitish Kumar, a BJP ally, saying there was need to stand united in preserving the country's democracy and secularism.
In his letter, Vijayan said Kerala has decided to address the apprehensions by staying all activities related to the National Population Register (NPR).
"Apprehensions have arisen among large sections of our society consequent to the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. The need of the hour is unity among all Indians who wish to protect and preserve our cherished values of democracy and secularism," he said.
Vijayan, the lone Left chief minister in the country, claimed apprehensions have arisen among large sections of the society consequent to the CAA and drew attention to the resolution passed in the state assembly on December 31 asking the central government to repeal the amended citizenship law.
"States which have the opinion that CAA must be repealed can also consider similar steps so that it will be an eye-opener for the proponents of CAA and NRC," Vijayan wrote.
Jharkhand's Hemant Soren, West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray, Bihar's Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh's Jaganmohan Reddy, Puducherry's V Narayanasami, Madhya Pradesh's Kamal Nath, Punjab's Amarinder Singh, Rajasthan's Ashok Gehlot and Odisha's Naveen Patnaik are the 11 chief ministers who received Vijayan's letter.
The Marxist veteran expressed hope that the unity in diversity of the country, which has stood the test of times, will ultimately emerge stronger.
"Kerala has decided to address the apprehensions about NRC that preparations of NPR will lead to NRC by staying all activities relating to NPR in the state," he said in the letter.
Vijayan's appeal to his counterparts comes a day after Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said the resolution passed by the state assembly against the CAA has absolutely no constitutional or legal validity.
Supporting the resolution passed by the Kerala Assembly, Singh said on Friday, "Passing of a resolution by the Legislative Assembly represents the will and wisdom of persons spoken through, legally and validly, their elected representatives.”
A number of chief ministers, including those of West Bengal, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, have already announced that the new citizenship law is "unconstitutional" and has no place in their states.
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