Punjab Assembly, 2nd after Kerala, passes resolution against CAA

New Delhi/Chandigarh: Punjab Assembly on Friday passed a resolution against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) that was cleared by Parliament last month, the second Assembly after Kerala to call for scrapping the law.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh later told reporters that his government would also move the Supreme Court against the CAA as well. Kerala had earlier this week joined the 60-odd petitioners who have already approached the top court against the law that lets the government fast-track citizenship request of people on grounds of religion.

The resolution said the citizenship law was "divisive and stands for everything opposed to a free and fair democracy, which must enshrine equality for all".

"Alongside the religion-based discrimination in granting citizenship, it is apprehended that the CAA is also likely to endanger the linguistic and cultural identity of some sections of our people," the resolution pushed by the Amarinder Singh government said.

The Aam Aadmi Party and Lok Insaf Party lawmakers supported the resolution that also opposed the provision that gives the government the power to strip Overseas Citizens of India card holders of their registration if they violate any law.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) opposed the resolution. BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) also opposed the resolution but stressed that it wanted a change.

"We are opposed to this resolution but want Muslims on the list of communities eligible under the CAA," SAD legislature party leader Sharanjit Singh Dhillon told the Assembly.

At a Cabinet meeting this week, chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh and his colleagues had expressed concern over the implications of what the state calls "blatantly unconstitutional and divisive CAA, NRC and NPR".