JP Nadda attacks CM Gehlot-led Rajasthan Govt over anti-CAA resolution

BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda on Sunday attacked Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot-led government over the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) resolution passed in the state Assembly. Nadda was attending a programme organised by BJP party workers to welcome him in Rajasthan. This was the first visit of Nadda to the state after taking over as party president last month.

Addressing the BJP workers Nadda said, "Many CAA affected people came to Rajasthan. The culture of Rajasthan is 'Atithi Devo Bhav'. India is home to people who are religiously persecuted. A resolution against CAA was passed in Rajasthan Assembly. They don't know that it is a subject of Centre and the decision regarding the same is taken in Parliament."

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Anti-CAA resolution passed

On January 25, Rajasthan Assembly passed a resolution urging the Centre to repeal the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), amid opposition by the BJP which accused the ruling Congress of pursuing appeasement politics. It is the second Congress-ruled state to pass such a resolution after Punjab. Earlier, Kerala Assembly too had passed a resolution against the CAA moved jointly by the ruling Left alliance and the opposition Congress-led UDF. 

Besides Rajasthan, governments of Kerala, Punjab, West Bengal, and Rajasthan had already adopted resolutions against the CAA, which provides Indian citizenship to non-Muslim refugees from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

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The Rajasthan Assembly passed the resolution by voice vote which also asked the Centre to withdraw the new fields of information that have been sought for updation in National Population Register (NPR), 2020. "It is evident that the CAA violates the provisions of the Constitution. Therefore, the House resolves to urge upon the government of India to repeal the CAA to avoid any discrimination on the basis of religion in granting citizenship and to ensure equality before the law for all religious groups of India," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal said while moving the resolution in the House.

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