Scrap CAA or exempt Assam from it: Prafulla Kumar Mahanta

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has said that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) is legally invalid since the legislation has violated the basic structure of the Constitution of India.

Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Mahanta said the CAA is full of legal contradictions and cannot be acceptable for a country like India. He said India is a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic as per the Constitution. “But the CAA is against the fundamental ethos of the Constitution,” he said.

Mahanta said the Kerala government has already resolved not to implement the CAA in the State. He said that eight other States have given their assent to the Kerala government’s decision.

“There is still time for the Centre to either scrap the CAA or exempt Assam from the purview of the contentious legislation. The Centre must give importance to the ongoing people’s movement against the CAA in Assam. Unfortunately, the Assam Government is trying to create a confusing atmosphere over the CAA in the State,” he said.

Mahanta said even though the CAA has set December 31, 2014 as the deadline for the non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to apply for Indian citizenship, the Act is silent on producing documents to prove that migrants entered India within the stipulated deadline. “That is the inherent danger of the CAA. Hindu migrants entering the country after December 31, 2014 will have the scope to apply for Indian citizenship,” he said.

Mahanta, who had led the historic Assam Agitation, contacted the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the CAB. “I had sought an appointment with the PM before the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in the Parliament. But I was denied the appointment by the PMO on the ground that the Home Ministry was in charge of the CAB. I sought an appointment with the PM as a former Chief Minister and a citizen of Assam,” he said.

Mahanta also termed the long house arrest of the former Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir as a threat to Indian democracy.

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