Bengal House motion slams CAA Assemblies in Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan had already passed motions against the CAA

TT, 28.01.20, Calcutta: Bengal on Monday became the fourth state in the country to have a resolution passed in the Assembly against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as all parties, except the BJP, joined forces to condemn the law which, according to the motion, is “in contradiction to the pluralist structure of the nation”.

The resolution was also against the National Population Register and the nationwide National Register of Citizens.

“This House has come to know from the media that the honourable Prime Minister has informed that the citizenship legislation will not be used to take away citizenship from any citizen, but the Citizenship (Amendment) Act has no mention of that, effectively creating confusion,” read the resolution which was moved by parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee at the beginning of a 150-minute session dedicated solely to it.

“Therefore, this House, through the state government, demands yet again before the central government that immediate effective steps be taken to repeal the CAA 2019, with provisions of granting Indian citizenship on the basis of religion and race in contradiction to the pluralist structure of the nation, and simultaneously necessary steps to withdraw the NPR and the NRC, which are interrelated, must also be taken,” concluded the resolution.

A total of 10 speakers participated in the discussion: three each from the Congress and the Left, one each from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha and the BJP, and two from the Trinamul Congress, including chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

“We want this law to be repealed immediately, nothing else will do. We will not accept the NPR. We will not accept the NRC. All of them together, we oppose,” the chief minister said while summing up in her address.

Assemblies in Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan had already passed motions against the CAA.

On Monday, other than the BJP, represented by Baishnabnagar MLA Swadhin Sarkar, all parties were unanimous in condemnation of what the “draconian” legislation and the allied exercises would mean for the masses.

The Congress and the Left, though they stood by the treasury benches in the letter and spirit of the resolution and its passage, kept demanding answers from the state government on why their previous demands for such a resolution — placed earlier this month — were turned down. Although there were some amendments proposed by both, after a request from Mamata and Chatterjee, the Left and the Congress relented and read them out before the House without pushing for a vote.

BJP’s Sarkar profusely thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Shah for the passage of the CAA.

Outside the House, he said had the resolution been put to a vote through secret ballot in the Assembly, such a process would have revealed support from many for the Centre.