On January 1, close to two lakh people walked the roads of Kochi protesting the argumentative Citizenship Amendment Act heeding the call by several Muslim organisations.?
The rally culminated at the Marine Drive in Kochi in the evening, whereleaders of 13 Muslim organisations addressed a crowd of protesters to demand thewithdrawal of the controversial legislation.
At a time when India is gripped under nationwide protests against the CAA that has been termed as ¡°unconstitutional¡±and ¡°unsecular¡±, some state governments have resolved to not implement it intheir state.
Leading the way, on December 31, Kerala Assembly passed a resolution demanding the scrapping of the controversial CAA.
The resolution was moved by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the state assembly.
Although a one-day special session was convened to ratify the extension of the reservationfor SC and ST in the Assembly and the Parliament for another decade, theresolution against CAA was also taken up in wake of widespread concerns among the publicin this regard.
While presentingthe resolution, CM Vijayan said the CAA was against the ¡°secular¡± outlook and the fabric of the country and would lead to religion-based discrimination ingranting citizenship.
"TheAct contradicts the basic values and principles of the Constitution. In view ofthe anxiety among the people of the country, Centre should take steps to dropthe CAA and uphold the secular outlook of the Constitution,¡± he said.
He added thatthe widespread protests across the country have tarnished India¡¯s imageinternationally.
The rulingCPI(M)-LDF and the Opposition Congress-led UDF supported the resolution whileBJP's lone MLA and former Union minister O Rajagopal's was the only dissenting the voice in the one-day special session.