New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor on Friday said that the Citizenship Amendment Act is “fundamentally anti-national." He urged the government not to implement the CAA. In a tweet, Tharoor wrote, “The #CAA is fundamentally anti-national & I urge the Govt not to implement it.”
The Citizenship Amendment Act which was passed in the Parliament in 2019 grants citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim minorities from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. This had led to protests in many parts of the country.
After the Centre had announced its decision to repeal the three farm laws, there have been calls from some quarters to roll back the CAA as well. All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi while addressing a public rally in Barabanki had asked the Centre to withdraw the CAA or protestors “will take to streets in Uttar Pradesh and make another Shaheen Bagh,” as reported by ANI dated November 22.
“I demand from the Bharatiya Janata Party government to repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),” Owaisi had said.
"If the government makes the law on the National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) then we will hit the streets again, we will make Shaheen bagh here too. I myself would come here," he had said.
The CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. It further stated that people from these communities who came to India till December 31, 2014 after facing religious persecution in these countries will not be treated as illegal immigrants and will be granted citizenship of India.