Kozhikode: Congress leader Kapil Sibal thinks it is unconstitutional for any State to say that it will not implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). It is going to be problematic, he said while attending a session on ‘The Idea of India’ at the Kerala Literature Festival on Saturday.
“This is a national legislation, we should not be scoring political points,” Mr. Sibal told senior journalist John Brittas.
“You must know that if the CAA is passed, no State can say that I will not implement it. That is not possible... You can oppose it. You can pass a resolution in the Assembly and ask the Central government to say please withdraw it,” he pointed out. But, a State saying that it would not implement the legislation was going to “create more difficulties”. Asked about the ongoing tug-of-war between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the State government, Mr. Sibal said Mr. Khan should read the Indian Constitution.
“So what we need to do is to politically get together. Fight this battle and let the Congress lead the charge,” Mr. Sibal said. He also admitted that the Opposition need to get its act together, and it had not been able to do that. “Some body will emerge from the people of this country to lead the movement,” he said. The senior Congress leader, however, claimed that regional parties with national ambitions was one of the major problems that such a movement would face.
Mr. Sibal said that the young people who were part of the anti-CAA campaign did not have any political agenda. They were there because of the lack of future they see here for themselves, he said.
The Congress leader compared the country to a car, whose three tyres, executive, legislature and the media, were dysfunctional. The fourth tyre, the judiciary, he said, functions occasionally. Mr. Sibal also suggested that a better model should be brought in for media to dismantle its link with the industry. This, because, the industry was dependent on the government, which can control it, he added.
