The Tamil Nadu Assembly created history on Wednesday, September 8, by passing a hope-giving resolution, brought in by the new DMK Government, unambiguously calling upon the BJP-led Union Government to repeal the ‘Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019’, which is against the secular principles of the Constitution and detrimental to communal amity.

Moving the resolution, Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin said: “This August House considers that the ‘Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019’, passed by the Parliament in the year 2019 is not in tune with the secular principles laid down in our Constitution and also not conducive to the communal harmony that prevails in India.”

The resolution further said: “As per established democratic principles, a country should be governed taking into consideration the aspirations and concerns of the people belonging to all sections of the society. But it is clearly seen that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was passed in such a way that it does not accord a warm support to the refugees considering their plight, but instead discriminates them according to their religion and their country of origin.

“Therefore, to uphold the unity and communal harmony in the country and to uphold the secular principles enshrined in the constitution of India, this August house resolves to urge the Union Government to repeal the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.” Mr. M.K. Stalin added.

Prefacing the government resolution introduced in the House, Mr. Stalin in his opening remarks said, citizenship is the basic right of every human being. Citing Article 14 of the Constitution, he said it guaranteed equality before the law or equal protection under laws to anyone within the territory of India. In the 1965 Citizenship Act, religion was not a criterion for getting Indian citizenship. “But this amendment Act brought by the present Union Government has effected a fundamental change in making religion a criterion for citizenship,” Mr. Stalin said.

As ‘Secularism’ is a basic feature of the Indian Constitution, religion cannot be the basis for any legal enactment, he asserted, but the CAA enacted on December 19, 2019, has for the first time introduced ‘religion’ as a criterion for citizenship.

Pointing out that the CAA-2019 enabled citizenship to religious minorities (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians) who were ‘persecuted’ in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and who arrived in India before December 2014, Mr. Stalin said it appeared that ‘Muslims’ have been left out of the purview of the Act ‘by design’.

The DMK from the beginning had stoutly opposed the 'CAA-2019' as it sought to “divide people on religious lines”, Mr. Stalin said and recalled how the DMK, then in the Opposition in the Assembly, had pressed the then (AIADMK) regime to pass a resolution against the new enactment, even before it became Law, and send it to the Government of India for its consideration. “But this was not accepted by the previous Government.” However, Mr. Stalin added that the DMK and its allies had voted against the CAA Bill in Parliament.

The Chief Minister was at pains to drive home that all suffering refugees coming to India should be viewed sympathetically, on a humanitarian basis and not discriminated on the basis of religion. Mr. Stalin also slammed New Delhi for excluding the Sri Lankan Tamils who took refuge here (in the wake of the ethnic riots and subsequent developments in Sri Lanka since 1983). “This is a massive betrayal of the suffering Sri Lankan Tamils and this is also one of the reasons why we are opposing the CAA,” Mr. Stalin said to thumping of desks by the members in the House.

The DMK leader explained that India still shined as the world's largest democracy because of its philosophy of 'Unity in Diversity'. "We continue to live as one people, as Indians, going beyond differences of religion, race, language and geographical regions." But CAA strikes at this very unity, he said, adding, "we are of the view that the Union Government should also totally give up the preparation of the 'National Population Register (NPR) and National Registry of Citizens (NRC) exercise."

While the main Opposition AIADMK led by Mr. Edappadi K Palaniswami, had walked out of the House even before the resolution was moved saying they were not allowed to raise certain other issues, its ally BJP MLA, Mr. Nainar Nagendran opposed the resolution in the House before walking out with his colleagues.

All other parties including the Congress, Left parties, PMK, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) representing the Muslim minorities, and the Dalit party, VCK, wholeheartedly supported the resolution.

They hailed the DMK Government calling for repeal of the CAA-2019, an issue that had triggered massive protests in different parts of the country and which the DMK had also pledged to fight in its 2021 Assembly election manifesto. This resolution against the CAA fulfills that poll promise.

Various members spoke on the resolution moved by the Chief Minister. The Leader of the House and Water Resources Minister Mr. Duraimurugan summed up the mood of the House against the CAA, stating "this is a secular state; the CAA is repugnant to the provisions of the Constitution and affects the interests of the Minorities."

Thereupon, on Mr. Stalin's request to the Chair, after thanking all the members who spoke on the resolution, it was adopted by a voice vote and the Speaker, M. Appavu declared that the resolution was passed ‘unanimously’.

The role of the Non-BJP ruled States in sustaining this momentum against the CAA has been particularly significant, it may be pointed out. As early as December 31, 2019, the Kerala Assembly was the first Legislature to demand the repeal of the CAA, followed by the Assemblies of Punjab, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Union Territory of Puducherry when Congress was in power there in February 2020, then by the AAP regime in Delhi and the Jharkhand Assembly. Significantly, even a State like Bihar where the JD(U) is in alliance with the BJP, its Chief Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar opposed the NPR/ NRC initiatives.