The Congress government in Punjab oversaw the passage of a resolution seeking the repeal of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Friday. The move makes Punjab the second state in the Union, after Kerala, to pass a resolution against the Citizenship Act. Punjab is also the first Congress-ruled state to pass such a resolution.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had consisently opposed the Citizenship Act and had reiterated the legislation would not be enforced in the state.
The resolution was introduced by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Braham Mohindra who declared the Citizenship Act was "against humanistic values and against secular values". Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal argued people in the state don't accept injustice and the state had a "long tradition of rejecting any discrimination based on communal ideas."
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The resolution said the amended Citizenship Act seeks to negate the very secular fabric on which the Constitution of India is based.
"It is divisive and stands for everything opposed to a free and fair democracy, which must enshrine equality for all. Alongside the religion-based discrimination in granting citizenship, it is apprehended that the CAA is also likely to endanger the linguistic and cultural identity of some sections of our people. CAA also envisages cancellation of the registration of Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card holders, if they violate any law," the resolution said.
It further said the CAA is aimed at distinguishing between illegal migrants on the basis of religion, which is not permissible under the Constitution that guarantees the right to equality and equal protection of the laws to all persons. CAA provides for granting citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who had migrated to India before December 31, 2014 but not to members of the Muslim community. The ideology behind the CAA is "inherently discriminatory and as far away as it can be from being a humanitarian measure," the resolution alleged.
"In the backdrop of these facts, it is evident that the CAA violates the secular identity of India, which is basic feature of our Constitution; therefore, the House resolves to urge the Government of India to repeal the CAA to avoid any discrimination on the basis of religion in granting citizenship and to ensure equality before law for all religious groups in India. "
The resolution also expressed apprehensions about the National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register. The resolution called on the Central government to "amend the forms documentation associated with the NPR to allay such apprehension in the minds of the people and only thereafter undertake work of enumeration under NPR".
