'I'm representative of President, will defend law': Kerala Guv on state's anti-CAA stand

Kerala's Governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Saturday said that he had taken an oath to defend the Indian Constitution and laws passed by the President of India. His remark came amid the state Assembly’s resolution's passing of the amended Citizenship Act. 

“A bill becomes a law with the assent of the President and I have taken an oath to defend both the constitution and the law. I am a representative of President of India,” said the Kerala governor.

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'No legal or constitutional validity'

Khan opined that the Kerala Assembly’s anti-CAA resolution has no legal or constitutional validity as citizenship is exclusively a subject to be dealt by the Centre. He also added that intimidating a Governor attracts punishment under section 124 (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code as it is a criminal act.

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The Kerala Assembly has passed a resolution for not implementing the Act in the state and has also written to the central government regarding the same. Moreover, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has written to eleven state governments who are against CAA to follow the same pathway against the Act. 

The CAA seeks to give citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian refugees who came to India on or before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

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However, after the bill was passed in both houses of Parliament followed by the President’s assent, protests erupted across the country against the Act. The protests which began in Assam had spread across the country and in universities like Jamia Millia, JNU and Aligarh Muslim University which took a violent turn with stone-pelting and damaging public property. The clash between police and protesters resulted in alleged lathi-charging, tear gas and rubber pellet action by police and vandalism by protestors. Many sections of the nation criticized the alleged brutal police action. Several protestors and police personnel were injured and died in the protests.

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(With inputs from ANI)