The contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 might not be implemented in Madhya Pradesh as well as Chhattisgarh states with chief ministers of both the states saying that their stand is same as the Congress party on the issue.
Interestingly, Bhopal Congress MLA Arif Masood had on Thursday night said that if the MP government implemented the law and NRC (national register of citizens) in the state, he would not be a part of the state Assembly anymore, meaning he would quit the post of MLA. His statement had come after a public meeting where a decision to oppose the Act was taken.
The Congress Party, which voted against the bill in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, is strongly opposing the act as unconstitutional and Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi has already described the passage of the bill in the parliament as a ‘dark day in the constitutional history of India’.
Also, minister and Congress legislature party leader in Maharashtra Balasaheb Thorat took a similar stand on Friday. With Shiv Sena walking out on the bill voting in Rajya Sabha after supporting it in Lok Sabha and later slamming the Act, there is a likelihood that Maharashtra might also follow suit and not implement the Act, sources said.
This makes it six states that have either announced or shown an intention to not implement the contentious Act that seeks to provide citizenship to refugees of different communities except Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.
Even as violence erupted in North East against the Act, the chief ministers of West Bengal, Kerala and Punjab have already announced that they will not implement the Act in their respective states.
On Friday, MP chief minister Kamal Nath, who is in Delhi, said that ‘whatever stand the Congress party has taken on Citizenship Amendment Act, we will follow that. Do we want to be a part of a process that sows seeds of divisiveness?” agency ANI quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, before leaving for New Delhi from Raipur to participate in the protest organized by the party, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said ‘our stand won’t be different from that of All India Congress Committee on the Citizenship Amendment Act. Our stand is the same as them. We oppose the Act as it is unconstitutional,”
Meanwhile, reacting to CM Kamal Nath’s statement, former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the Act is a provision to restore the honour of refugees persecuted for their religion. “Now it is an Act, a law. How can a person sitting on a constitutional post say such thing (that it will not be implemented?” Chouhan asked.
Former minister Narottam Mishra said that the Congress was trying to spread misunderstanding about the Act and to create controversy. “The Act is about giving citizenship and not taking anyone’s citizenship,” Mishra said.
Bhopal MLA Rameshwar Sharma attacked Masood for his statement saying that those towing lines of Jinnah should go to Pakistan. “Masood to clarify whether he is with the infiltrators,” Sharma said.