NEW DELHI: There was an uproar in Kerala state assembly as Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan arrived to deliver his address for the Budget Session on Wednesday.
According to reports, United Democratic Front MLAs shouted slogans against Khan who had to be escorted to the dais.
During his speech, he read out a paragraph containing criticism of CAA to honour the wish of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
"I'm going to read this para because the Honourable Chief Minister wants me to read this, although I hold the view that this does not come under the definition of policy or programme," Governor Arif Mohammad Khan said.
Khan had clearly taken a stand against the passing of a resolution by the Kerala Assembly on the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. Khan had maintained that it had no validity.
“Citizenship Act is purely a Central subject and moreover, in Kerala, there is no issue of any illegal migrants. Hence, this resolution passed by the Assembly has no Constitutional or legal validity,” said Khan to the media here on Thursday.
The West Bengal Assembly on Monday had also passed a resolution demanding the scrapping of contentious new citizenship law. The resolution, moved by State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee in a special session, was backed by members of the Congress and Left Front while the BJP opposed it. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her speech, described the resolution as one upholding humanity, which the law flouts. “This is no Hindu-Muslim issue. It is a matter of humanity. This law is a shame for humanity,” she said.
CAA aims to protect religiously persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan by giving them Indian Citizenship. The cut-off date for those to be given citizenship in India has been fixed at, on or before 31st December 2014.
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