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States Can't Say 'Won't Follow Law Passed By Parliament'": Kapil Sibal

Kozhikode, Kerala: Days after Kerala moved the Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA amid nationwide protests, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who was in Kozhikode on Saturday, said it would be "difficult for any state government to say that 'I will not follow a law passed by parliament'".

"The states are sending a message to the central government that they are unhappy with the citizenship law, the National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register. But the NRC is based on National Population Register and that has to be implemented by a local registrar, who is appointed by state-level officers."

"Basically what is being said is we won't allow state-level officers to cooperate with Union of India... practically, I don't know if that's possible. It's a grey area," the 71-year-old leader said on the sidelines of the Kerala Literature Festival in Kozhikode.

"Constitutionally, it would be difficult for any government to say that 'I will not follow a law passed by parliament'," he said.

In the "fight against CAA", other parties should let Congress take charge, he added. "When it's about national politics, I think we all must stand together because this is a national legislation. So, we should not be scoring political points. What we need to do is politically come together... fight this battle and let the Congress (nationally) take charge," Mr Sibal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

In a tweet this morning, he called the new citizenship law "unconstitutional" and said the "fight (against it) must go on". Every State Assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and seek it's withdrawal. When and if the law is declared to be constitutional by the Supreme Court then it will be problematic to oppose it," he wrote.

(Inputs from ndtv.com)

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