Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Hindu
The Hindu
National
Special Correspondent

Citizenship Amendment Act: Pinarayi Vijayan assails attempt to ‘racially purify Hindustan’

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan addresses the Assembly on December 31, 2019. (Source: S. Gopakumar)

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday assailed the RSS, the BJP’s ideological mentor, for seeking to “racially purify Hindustan” by introducing prejudicial laws aimed at incrementally ridding the country of religious, ethnic and linguistic minorities or reducing such groups to subaltern status.

Speaking in the Assembly on the resolution seeking scrapping of the Centre’s amended citizenship law, Mr. Vijayan said the RSS considered Muslims a hindrance to its bid to reshape India into a Hindu majoritarian State, wherein religion and caste of persons determined their social status, line of work and chances of social mobility.

The RSS attempted to portray liberal and secular voices opposed to the criminalisation of Muslim divorce law and the CAA as fifth columnists, agents of forces inimical to the country, he said.

Kerala Assembly asks Centre to annul Citizenship Amendment Act 

Congress member V.D. Satheesan said laws analogous to the Citizenship Amendment Act that set religion and race as the criteria for granting citizenship had triggered the Holocaust in Europe and more recently the state-sponsored liquidation of the Rohingya Muslim community in neighbouring Myanmar.

Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said the very idea of India was under threat. The BJP government in Uttar Pradesh had threatened to take revenge against anti-CAA protesters.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.