Punjab Assembly on Friday passed a resolution against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act that was cleared by Parliament last month, the second assembly after Kerala to call for scrapping the law.
The resolution, which was introduced by Local bodies and Parliamentary affairs minister Brahm Mohindra, called for doing away with CAA as it was “against humanistic values and against secular values”.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supported the resolution, while the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) opposed it.
AAP MLA Aman Arora said that the law was enacted to divert attention from “bigger issues”.
What is happening in this country? We need to learn from history. In the 1930s, the same happened in Europe. First, they were against communists, then they were against Jews. This is religious cleansing.
SAD MLA Sharanjit Dhillon said that they demand that Muslims should not be left out under CAA.
Meanwhile, shortly after the Punjab Assembly passed the resolution, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said his government like Kerala will approach the Supreme Court on the issue.
He said the Centre will have to make the necessary amendments to the CAA if it has to be implemented in Punjab and other states opposing the legislation.
“Like Kerala, our government will also approach the Supreme Court on the issue,” Singh told reporters in an informal chat outside the state Assembly.
Captain Amarinder said that the issue of CAA had shaken the entire country. He said that the youth understand that what the government is doing is unconstitutional.
“What is happening in this country? We need to learn from history. In the 1930s, the same happened in Europe. First, they were against Communists, then they were against Jews. This is religious cleansing,” said Singh. The CM asked where poor people would get their documentation from.
Singh said that there was an attempt to “change the secular fabric of this country.”
“We have failed to learn from Hitler and Germany of 1930s,” he said.
Singh also launched a scathing attack on SAD for opposing the resolution, saying the “Akalis have forgotten the teachings of even Guru Nanak while supporting CAA”.
He said he would gift Hitler’s memoir ‘Mein Kampf’ to all the Akalis so that they would know how fascist ideology is being implemented.
Speaking during the debate, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said that people of Punjab “don’t accept injustice”. The CAA will create divisions among people of Punjab, he said.
“Punjab has a long tradition of rejecting any discrimination based on communal ideas,” he added.
Punjab is the second state after Kerala to move a resolution against the contentious CAA in the state assembly.
Badal said: “Punjab paid the price for Partition with ten lakh lives. So the land of Punjab knows what such kind of acts do to humanity.”
Manpreet Badal questioned why the people of Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Muslims had been kept out under this act.