Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday, 19 January, lashed out at the Centre over the 'controversial' CAA and said the state would not implement the 'whims and fancies' of the RSS, but would uphold the values of the Constitution.
Vijayan, addressing a massive anti-CAA rally in Thiruvananthapuram, made it clear that the Left-ruled state would never implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR).
“Many people had doubts when Kerala declared that we will not implement the CAA. We all need to understand that all laws of the country must be in accordance with the Constitution. If a law is ultra vires, it won't stand,” he said.
“We are required to implement the matters concerned with the Constitution of the country and not the whims and fancies of the RSS,” Vijayan added.
‘Kerala Is United in This Fight’
The agitation across the country was to protect the Indian Constitution and secularism.
“We have seen such protests during the independence struggle. We are witnessing a similar uprising now. Kerala is united in this fight. The joint protest organised by the ruling and opposition fronts of the state gave out a strong message to the whole country that we are united,” the Left leader said.
Kerala would continue its fight to uphold the Constitution, but would keep away the communal forces and the extremists from the movement, he said.
“To those in the state who are worried about the CAA, I would like to tell them, fear not. Worry not. You are living in one of the most secure places. You are living in a fort. The name of the fort is Kerala. There is no reason to worry here. The state government will stand by you,” he continued.
The chief minister came down on the Oppostion Congress-led UDF, which has decided not to participate in joint protests with the LDF against the CAA, and said some “narrow-minded” people never want to join hands.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who also addressed the rally, said it was the real patriots who were protesting for safeguarding the Constitution.
“When someone opposes CAA or the NRC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister, Amit Shah and the RSS accuse them of being anti-national. Let me tell them one thing. Every religion has got a holy book. For an Indian patriot, there is only one holy book — the constitution,” he said adding that all the protests are to defend and safeguard the constitution.
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