Thiruvananthapuram: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is among the 11 non-BJP chief ministers who have been asked to take steps scrap Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. On Friday, he wrote to all the CMs stand up against the controversial law and pitch for unity to protect democracy and secularism.
It may be recalled that Kerala became the first state to officially oppose CAA, when the Kerala Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution, supported by the ruling CPIM-led LDF and opposition Congress headed UDF, demanding the repeal of CAA. The letter has also gone to Bihar’s Nitish Kumar, an ally of the BJP.
“The need of the hour is unity among all Indians who wish to protect and preserve our cherished values of democracy and secularism. People from a cross section of society need to stand united in preserving the basic tenets of our polity, which forms the cornerstone of Indian democracy,” he said in his letter, a copy of which was released to the media here.
The lone Left Chief Minister in the country, Vijayan claimed apprehensions have arisen among large sections of the society consequent to the CAA. He drew the attention of the 11 states to the resolution passed by the Kerala Assembly on December 31 expressing its concern regarding the impact the CAA on the “nation’s secular credentials” and urging the Centre to repeal it.
“Kerala has decided to address the apprehensions about NRC that preparations of NPR (National Population Register) will lead to NRC by staying all activities relating to NPR in the state,” he said in the letter.
On Thursday, Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan had said the resolution passed by the State Assembly against CAA has absolutely no Constitutional or legal validity. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had criticised the Left government for passing the resolution and said Vijayan should seek “better legal advice.”
The chief ministers who have been sent the letter include Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Hemant Soren (Jharkhand), Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Y S Jaganmohan Reddy (Andhra Pradesh), Kamal Nath (Madhya Pradesh), Amarinder Singh (Punjab), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan) Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) and V Narayanasamy (Puducherry).
