Kerala Assembly has no powers on CAA: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Thiruvananthapuram: After the Kerala Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the law is perfectly legal and constitutional, and also binding on the entire country.

He said Parliament has powers to pass law with regard to subjects under the Seventh Schedule, and this is not in the domain of a state Assembly.

During an interaction with mediapersons, Prasad emphasized that Parliament has the powers to pass law in connection with citizenship, and the Kerala Assembly cannot pass such laws.

Prasad, pointing at the Kerala Assembly resolution seeking scrapping of the Act, insisted that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should get better legal advice on the issue.

“The law relates to six persecuted communities of three countries — Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan … This law is binding on the entire country. CAA is not related to any Indian Muslim,” said Prasad.

He cited former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, who gave citizenship to minorities from Uganda and Sri Lankan Tamils. He queried if it was okay for the Congress, then how it is an issue when Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah have done too.

He said the law does note relate to any Indian citizen or take away citizenship from any Indian, and attacked the Congress for spreading misinformation on the law.

On the National Population Register (NPR), Prasad said it is a census governed by the Census Act and the population data is used for policy making for Centre and state governments.

“Held a good & effective public meeting at Gandhi Park, Thiruvananthapuram in support of #CitizenshipAmendmentAct. Urged people not to believe in misinformation campaign being run by opposition parties to spread violence. Assured them that this law does not affect any Indian citizen,” Prasad later tweeted.

IANS