Tamil Nadu: DMK stages walkout from Assembly over CAA, says AIADMK keen on protecting BJP’s interests

The MLAs of Tamil Nadu's major opposition party DMK walked out of the maiden session of the Legislative Assembly for the year, over their disagreement with the state government's stance on the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and various other issues. 

Led by DMK president MK Stalin, the MLAs staged a walkout during the Governor Banwarilal Purohit's speech. 

Speaking to reporters, Stalin said that there were many pending issues to be discussed. "The state debt is more than 4 lakh crores, there is a slowdown in employment generation. Despite the government having taken a policy decision to release the seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case, the governor has not given his assent even after a year. The AIADMK supported the passing of citizenship amendment bill in both the houses of parliament," he said.

Lone AMMK MLA TTV Dinakaran also staged a walkout stating that he was against the CAA, as it was against the Muslims and Sri Lankan Tamils. CAA is an attempt to change the secular fabric of India, he said. 

MLAs of Congress and IUML, which are DMK allies too staged a walkout. Congress MLA Vijayadharana said, "We are against the CAA all the opposition parties in the state- DMK, Congress and IUML have staged a walkout, boycotting the governor's address. This is to condemn the AIADMK's support to CAA in the parliament. The act is against the interest of minorities and Sri Lankan Tamils. The fear is that people living in India for years together will have to prove their citizenship."

On January 3, DMK chief MK Stalin had submitted a private member's resolution to be taken up by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, seeking the withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act. This is in line with what the Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan had done during the special session of the Assembly. Stalin also urged the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to adopt a similar resolution in the TN assembly that is due to convene on January 6. "People want every State Assembly to do this, in order to protect the basic tenets of the Constitution."

The Kerala Assembly had convened for a special one-day session, where the resolution against CAA was also tabled given the mounting concerns over the act, across the country. It was during an all-party meeting convened by the Kerala Chief Minister on December 29 to discuss the CAA issue that the Congress-led UDF had demanded the Left government to convene a special session to pass a resolution against the CAA. 

However, the Central Government has maintained that according to Article 245,256 and other provisions,  the parliament has the complete powers to pass laws regarding naturalization and citizenship.