Many Opposition-led State governments have come out against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and NRC stating that it is anti-Constitutional. But now even BJP allies have turned against CAA and NRC.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise will not be implemented in Bihar, the state chief minister Nitish Kumar assured his party’s vice-president Prashant Kishor on Saturday. Prashant Kishor, who had publicly criticised the party's support to the new citizenship law, said he stood by the "views I have expressed". He, however, said the amended Citizenship Act was, per se, not a "major cause for worry" but it could be problematic in combination with the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal have said that party has passed a resolution to “rededicate itself to the setting up of a genuinely secular and federal India based on the principles of peace, communal harmony and equal rights and respect for all citizens, regardless of their religion, caste, creed , language, state or region’, reported Indian Express.
Another resolution passed at the delegates' session said, "The SAD stands for greater fiscal and political autonomy to all states as strong states mean a strong country."
“India will develop if states will be given equal opportunity to grow and have more rights under federal structure. Now states can’t do anything. They don’t have resources. States are all dependent on Centre. The US is an example of federal structure. Every state in US has powers of finance. But here we have to seek permission from the Centre even to set up a power plant. It is an old agenda of SAD and now every political party is same,” said Badal.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was signed into law by President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday. Under the new law, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 and facing religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.
The CAA allows for granting citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, while the NRC exercise would compile the names of all genuine Indian citizens.
The opposition has pointed out that the law wasn’t consistent in safeguarding all religious minorities, nor does it extend to all of India’s neighbouring countries: for instance, Rohingya Muslims and Hindus face persecution in Mynamar, or minority Muslim sects in Pakistan, or Christian Tamils in Sri Lanka have.
Chief Ministers such as Mamata Banerjee, Pinarayi Vijayan, Capiatn Amrinder Singh, Bhupesh Baghel and Kamal Nath announced that the law will not be implemented in their States. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday that the Bill reflects the ideology of the RSS and not the inclusive framework of the country’s Constitution. And now two BJP's allies JDU and Sad have joint the fight against CAA and NRC.
