Pinarayi Vijayan writes letter to 11 non-BJP CMs, urges to unite against CAA
Thiruvananthapuram/IBNS: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday wrote a letter to his non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) counterparts of 11 states urging them to unite against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, (CAB), which has become the point of tussle between the Centre and several states.
Vijayan wrote letter to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Interestingly, the BJP is also in power in Bihar in an alliance with Nitish's Janata Dal (United).
In his letter, Vijayan wrote, "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 various cross sections of the society irrespective of any difference they might have, need to stand united in preserving the basic tenets of our polity which form the corner stone of Indian democracy."
Stating the reason for opposing the CAA, which aims to grant citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi but not Muslim refugees who came to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan before 2015, Vijayan wrote on Twitter, "CAA is fundamentally discriminatory in nature & is antithetical to our constitutional values."
Wrote to 11 Chief Ministers requesting intervention on CAA.
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) January 3, 2020
Why we resist?
CAA is fundamentally discriminatory in nature & is antithetical to our constitutional values.
Why is it important?
Equality is paramount
Why we should?
We are in this together.
It is all or none. pic.twitter.com/pSGTR5NhqC
This comes days after the LDF government in Kerala passed a resolution in the state assembly against the CAA with the support of Opposition Congress-UDF.
Following the passing of the resolution, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had hit out at Vijayan saying he must seek "better legal advice".
Kerala Governor Arif Mohamed Khan had termed the resolution as "unconstitutional".
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