Thiruvananthapuram: In a major announcement amidst the Lok Sabha election, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said on Sunday that he controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will definitely be repealed in the very first session of Parliament if the Opposition INDIA Bloc forms government at the Centre.
It’s significant because this is not mentioned in Congress’ election manifesto.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his party CPI(M) have, in fact, been constantly slamming the Congress for not mentioning the CAA in the party manifesto.
Chidambaram clarified Congress’ stand on Sunday, claiming it was not mentioned in the manifesto because it became too long, reported PTI.
The former Union Finance minister said the 10-year-rule of BJP in Delhi has caused tremendous damage to the country as it misused the “brute majority” in Parliament.
“There is a long list of laws among which five laws will be absolutely repealed. Take it from me, I am the chairman of the manifesto committee. I wrote every word of it, I know what the intention was. The CAA will be repealed, not amended. We have made it clear,” Chidambaram said.
Chidambaram dismissed Vijayan’s claims that Congress hasn’t opposed the CAA, saying that Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor has spoken against the law in Parliament.
Chidambaram also said a law will be introduced under which ‘bail will be the rule, jail exception’.
“We are also promising to bring a special law which would say ‘Bail is the rule, jail is the exception’; it was a great son of Kerala, Justice Krishna who laid down the law – Bail is the rule, jail is the exception. This rule is rarely followed in the lower judiciary, magistrates, and district judges, ultimately not everybody can go to the Supreme Court to get bail. 65% of the prisoners are undertrial, they are not convicts, so why are they in jail… 90% of the undertrials are OBCs, SC and ST, therefore, we would bring a special law ‘Bail is the rule, jail is the exception’- everybody after the first 15 days of interrogation by police or the CBI must be granted bail,” said Chidambaram.
