New Delhi: Amid a debate over the implementation of the amended Citizenship Act (CAA), the Congress said Sunday that states have the right to challenge the Centre and cannot be ‘forced’ to implement the ‘unconstitutional law’ till the petition in the Supreme Court is decided.
Chief spokesperson of the party Randeep Surjewala said in a statement that the CAA is an attack on India’s Constitution and the people’s movement against the act shall continue ‘courageously and fearlessly’.
It’s assertion came a day after senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said there is no way a state can deny the implementation of the CAA when it is already passed by Parliament. He, however, later informed that every state Assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and seek the amended Citizenship Act’s withdrawal, but if the law is declared constitutional by the Supreme Court then it will be problematic to oppose it.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have become living symbols of ‘sectarianism, bigotry and fanaticism’ using the instrument of state to attack India’s ethos and its Constitution,” Surjewala alleged. He accused Modi and Shah of using the CAA as a ‘manipulative smoke-screen’ to ‘divide and rule’.
Repeated statements being made by the home minister and governors ‘forcing’ the states to implement the CAA are itself preposterous and go against the very concept of ‘constitutional federalism’, Surjewala asserted.
Surjewala’s remarks come at a time when a tussle is going on between the Kerala government and its governor Arif Mohammad Khan over the Left dispensation approaching the Supreme Court against the CAA.
“Let the BJP government and its governors not forget that India is a Union of states. As per the established parliamentary practice, states can disagree with the Union and challenge the same by way of their constitutional right under Article 131 of the Constitution,” Surjewala informed.
“Until the (CAA) issue is resolved on a petition moved under Article 131, states cannot be forced to implement an unconstitutional law like the CAA,” Surjewala added.
In the past, many states such as Karnataka, Bihar and Rajasthan have approached the Supreme Court under Article 131 to resolve disputes with the Union of India on a range of issues, informed Surjewala.
Prime Minister Modi and the BJP need to understand that the Constitution is not a jumla to be discarded at will. The Constitution is our biggest ‘dharma of raaj, neeti and karma’, stated Surjewala.
The inherently ‘divisive’ CAA is an attack on India’s Constitution, its poor, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and the minorities, Surjewala alleged.
PTI