Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath Wednesday led a rally of Congressmen in protest of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Mr Nath termed the CAA and NRC as “anti-Constitutional”, “anti-people” and “anti-religion” and reiterated his stance that both provisions will never be implemented in Madhya Pradesh under the Congress regime.
“The CAA and NRC have threatened to imperil the future of our coming generations. The provisions have hit hard the fundamentals of our Constitution. The BJP is trying to implement the hidden agenda of the RSS by bringing such divisive legislations,” Mr Nath said while addressing the rally.
Mr Nath made it clear that the Congress was in support of the National Population Register (NPR). However, he said that by clubbing the NPR with the NRC, the BJP had betrayed its real intent.
He raised apprehension that implementation of the NRC across the country would be dangerous and said, “The Congress will defeat any conspiracy to break the nation.”
Apart from state ministers, other leaders and people belonging to all faiths participated in the rally. The Opposition BJP however slammed the chief minister for shunning a legislation passed by Parliament, saying it amounted to defying the Constitution.
“As per the Constitution, the right to grant citizenship rests with the Centre. Does a chief minister have the right to oppose a legislation passed by both houses of Parliament and lead a march against it in the name of peace and instigate people against it?” questioned former chief minister and BJP national vice-president Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He called upon Mr Nath to demit office first and then lead the march against the legislation.
