Tehran 14 January_India’s southern Kerala State has become the first to legally challenge a new controversial citizenship law in the country that is widely considered anti-Muslim and has triggered nationwide demonstrations.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club(YJC)-In a petition filed with the Supreme Court on Tuesday, the administration of the southern state called the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) a violation of the secular nature of the Indian constitution and accused the government of dividing the nation along religious lines.
“The suit that the Kerala government has filed in the Supreme Court today against the unconstitutional CAA is in line with this fight to save citizens’ rights through constitutional methods,” Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said. “Kerala will always remain in the forefront of this fight to protect the Indian constitution and the fundamental rights of its citizens.”
He said the state would not implement the law.
The law, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, allows granting citizenship to the millions of migrants who came into India — legally or illegally — from Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Afghanistan before December 2014, but not if they are Muslims.
It has sparked nationwide protests. Clashes between the protesters and police have led to nearly two dozen deaths.
Sunny Kappikkad, a prominent Dalit activist, said Sunday that major protests against the CAA had come from the state governments.
Your Comment