Will not implement CAA in Tamil Nadu: CM Stalin

Chennai: Tamil Nadu will never implement the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act which is against Muslims and Sri Lankan Tamils, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Wednesday, deriding Union Minister of State Santanu Thakur’s remarks that the legislation regarding the same will be implemented across the country in seven days.

“I give an assurance (to the people) that we won’t not let Citizenship (Amendment) Act set foot in Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said, while asserting that the bill wouldn’t have translated into a law had the AIADMK, then an ally of the BJP, not supported it in Rajya Sabha.

Stalin was reacting to Thakur’s remarks that CAA will be implemented in seven days in not just West Bengal but all over India. In a statement, the Chief Minister, who is currently in Spain on an official visit, said the DMK, despite being in the opposition, held huge protests against the Act in Tamil Nadu and mobilised two crore signatures against it and sent them to the President of India.

“As soon as we came to power in 2021, we passed a resolution in the assembly demanding the withdrawal of CAA. The DMK government will never allow the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act in Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said.

While accusing the BJP of acting against “religious harmony” in the country, the Chief Minister said the people are watching the subversive activities of the government and the “insidious dramas” of the AIADMK supporting it.

Hitting back at Stalin, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami said the party, even while it was in the government, had made it clear that it won’t remain silent if there was any problem for minorities or Sri Lankan Tamils.

“The DMK which has made enacting its ‘opposing communalism drama’ as its only political capital is cheating the minorities by opposing the BJP while in opposition and being friends with the BJP while ruling the state,” Palaniswami said.