‘No state can deny implementation of CAA, doing that would be unconstitutional’: Kapil Sibal

Kozhikode, Kerala: Days after Kerala moved the Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA amid nationwide protests, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who was in Kerala’s Kozhikode on Saturday, said it would be “difficult for any state government to say that ‘I will not follow a law passed by the parliament'”.

“The states are sending a message to the central government that they are unhappy with the citizenship law, the National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register. But the NRC is based on National Population Register and that has to be implemented by a local registrar, who is appointed by the state-level officers.”

Fight against CAA

“Basically what is being said is we won’t allow state-level officers to cooperate with Union of India… practically, I don’t know if that’s possible. It’s a grey area,” the 71-year-old leader said on the sidelines of the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode.

“Constitutionally, it will be difficult for any government to say that I will not pass a law passed by the parliament,” he said.

In the “fight against CAA”, other parties should let Congress take charge, he added. “When you come to national politics, I think we all must stand together because this is a national legislation. So, we should not be scoring political points. what we need to do is politically get together… fight this battle and let the Congress nationally lead the charge,” Mr Sibal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

CAA cleared in Parliament

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, which cleared the parliament last month, makes religion the test of citizenship in India for the first time. While the government claims that it will help minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan – to get citizenship if they fled to India because of religious persecution before 2015, critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates the secular principles of the constitution.

The National Register of Citizens or NRC aims to identify illegal immigrants settled in the country. People opposed to the Citizenship Amendment Act claim that it is a precursor to a nationwide NRC, putting millions of the country’s Muslim citizens at risk of persecution once the entire process is completed.

Kerala was the first state to pass a resolution in the state assembly against the CAA, followed by Punjab. While Left government in Kerala has already moved the top court against the law, Punjab too has said it will challenge the CAA before the Supreme Court.