"The constitution has a mandate -- Parliament - List 1, State Assemblies - List 2. I would again urge the Chief Minister to kindly have better legal advice," the Union Minister of Law and Justice said.
After the Kerala Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution seeking the withdrawal of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Union Minister of Law and Justice Ravi Shankar Prasad pointed out that no state legislature, including that of Kerala, has the power to pass any law with regard to citizenship.
The Union Minister today elaborated that there are some issues which form the Union List or List-I in the Constitution of India. These are the issues on which only the Parliament has the exclusive power to legislate, and therefore, the states have no power to legislate on these matters. "Citizenship, naturalisation, and aliens are entry 17 on the Union List. Therefore, it is only the Parliament that has the power to pass any law with regards to citizenship, not any Assembly, including Kerala," Ravi Shankar Prasad said today at a press conference in New Delhi.
Further, taking a jab at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who had led the charge in protesting against the BJP-led central government over the CAA issue, the Union Law Minister said, "The constitution has a mandate -- Parliament - List 1, State Assemblies - List 2. I would again urge the Chief Minister to kindly have better legal advice."
For context, the legislative section in the Indian Constitution is divided into three lists: Union List, State List, and Concurrent List. While the legislative authority of the first two lists is self-explanatory, both the central government and the state governments can legislate on the matters listed in the Concurrent List.
Earlier today, the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution against the recently enacted Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), asking the Narendra Modi led Centre to withdraw the new legislation that has triggered nationwide protests.
Moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the resolution was supported by all the MLAs except BJP's O Rajagopal.
The CM, who has accused the BJP of dividing the country on communal lines, said, "Kerala has a long history of secularism. Greeks, Romans, Arabs everyone reached our land. Christian and Muslim religions reached Kerala in the very beginning itself. Our assembly needs to keep the tradition alive. Our tradition is of inclusiveness. Our assembly needs to keep the tradition alive."
Terming the citizenship law as a 'violation of the fundamental right of equality', Vijayan said, “The CAA 2019 passed by both houses of the Parliament has created a concern among various communities, there has also been a statewide protest against the same. In Kerala, there has been a peaceful and untied agitation in general. The Act, which has set new guidelines for granting citizenship, is a violation of the fundamental right of equality as mentioned in Part III of the Constitution.”
The resolution was supported by opposition parties including Congress, CPI, and CPI(M). Speaking in favour of the resolution, Congress leader VD Satheesan said, "the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and CAA are the two sides of the same coin. CAA is a clear violation of Article 13,14 and 15 of the Constitution." CPI legislator C. Divakaran while extending support to Vijayan on the resolution moved by him said that the Assembly is "forced to move" such a resolution.
Meanwhile, the BJP opposed the legislation with the party MLA O Rajagopal saying that the resolution against the citizenship law was moved for "political gains". "The resolution shows the narrow political mindset," he said in the Assembly.
Massive protests have erupted across the country against the new citizenship law and a proposed NRC with Uttar Pradesh being most affected where 19 people have been killed. The new law promises citizenship to "illegal immigrants" belonging to minority communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who fled religious persecution in the three countries.
While critics say that the law is against the secular nature of the Indian Constitution and clubbed with the NRC may be misused to strip away some Muslims' citizenship in the country.
The BJP, however, has argued that the law has nothing to do with India's Muslims and only helps those who fled religious persecution in the neighbouring countries.
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