Udaipur: Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi contradicted Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot regarding the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Joshi said that the Government of India has passed the Act and State government has to implement it as under the Constitution, citizenship is a subject of the Centre, not of the State.
"Under the Constitution, citizenship is a subject of the Centre and not of the State," said Joshi at the annual award distribution ceremony of Mira Girls College in Udaipur.
"State governments can make laws only on the subjects of the concurrent list like the Center made the law under the Motor Vehicle Act. The region of the state will not implement it, but the law is that if the central government has made a law in the corporate subject, no state can make a law against it," he added.
Rajasthan unit BJP president Satish Punia on Sunday thanked Assembly Speaker CP Joshi for his statement.
Punia said: "I welcome and congratulate CP Joshiji that he has supported the CAA. Before him, many Congress leaders like Shashi Tharoor, Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid, and Kapil Sibal have also said that the Citizenship Amendment Act will have to be implemented."
"The CAA is revolutionary as it opens the doors of getting nationality status for the people who want to live with dignity and respect. Everyone has supported it including intellectuals, nationalists and world leaders. There is no further scope of debate on it," he said.
Earlier in January, Rajasthan state assembly on Saturday passed a resolution urging Centre to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). After the resolution was passed, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said, “Rajasthan Assembly has passed a resolution today against the CAA and we have urged the Central govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our Constitution.
The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and if they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
