Punjab Assembly to follow Kerala path on CAA, NPR and NRC issue

Chandigarh: The Punjab government will go by the will of the state Assembly on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), an official statement said.

It has decided to bring a resolution, similar to that of Kerala, in its upcoming Vidhan Sabha session on the controversial CAA, NRC and the NPR.

This was decided here on Tuesday evening by Punjab ministers during an informal discussion after a Cabinet meeting, the statement read. "The ministers also expressed concern over the implications of the blatantly unconstitutional and divisive CAA, NRC and NPR," the statement said.

They also expressed alarm over the violence that had erupted across the country over the issues, which, according to them, "threatened to rip apart the secular fabric of the nation".

"The ministers were of the view that the matter was bound to be raised during the two-day session of the assembly on January 16-17 and it was unanimously decided that the government should accept the will of the House," the statement said.

The Cabinet also agreed with the chief minister's views that the CAA, especially when coupled with the the NRC and NPR, violated the preamble to the Indian Constitution.

Punjab's Advocate General Atul Nanda also presented the legal perspective on the matter before the ministers.

The government will construct a strategy to deal with the issue in accordance with the recommendation of the House, the statement read.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had recently said his government would not allow the implementation of "brazenly divisive CAA Act".

The Punjab CM had said neither he nor the Congress was against granting citizenship to the minorities persecuted on the basis of religion but they were completely opposed to the "discrimination in the CAA against certain religious communities, including Muslims".

The Kerala Assembly had recently passed a resolution demanding the scrapping of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act, becoming the first state in the country to do so.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Sikhs from Punjab on Wednesday joined the anti-citizenship law protestors at South East Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, demanding withdrawal of the contentious legislation.

The gathering of around 350 Sikhs from Moga, Barnala, Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangroor districts came as farmers' body Kisan Union (Ekta) (Ugraha) extended its support to the protestors here.

An indefinite protest at Shaheen Bagh had started on December 15 with people demanding that the government withdraw the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and a possible pan-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). Similar indefinite protests had simultaneously unfolded at Jamia Millia Islamia and Zakir Nagar also.

"Now they (the government) will get envious seeing the solid unit of Sikhs with Muslims and Hindus here. And this is just one step outside our home, the full journey will be completed when the government repeals this law," Jagjeet Singh, who came from Moga, said in a mix of Punjabi and Hindi.

"Guru Gobind Singh ji taught us thay we must oppose oppression wherever we see it and that is our motivation to join this fight," he added.