Hope after Sibal's clarification on CAA implementation Punjab CM would behave responsibly: BJP

A day after Congress leader Kapil Sibal remarked that states can't deny implementation of the amended citizenship law when it has been passed by Parliament, the BJP hoped that Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh would behave responsibly on the issue.

Calling the Citizenship (Amendment) Act "inherently discriminatory", the Punjab Assembly on Friday adopted a resolution seeking its immediate repeal and Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced that his government would approach the Supreme Court against it, the second state after Kerala to do so.

BJP National Secretary Tarun Chugh claimed that Sibal, one of the top legal experts in the Congress, has made it clear that the stand taken by Amarinder Singh and the resolution passed by the Congress government in Punjab was unconstitutional.

He hoped that after the clarification on the legal and technical position of the Centre and states by "none other than Sibal" the Punjab chief minister would behave responsibly on CAA.

"The amendment (in the Citizenship Act) has been made after getting it through both the houses of Parliament and now no state can say no to it. It will not only be impossible to not implement it in any state but also unconstitutional as the right to citizenship is not a state subject. An Act or amendment passed by Parliament is binding for all the states as well as UTs under article 254 of the constitution," Chugh said.

"The resolution passed in Punjab Assembly by the Amarinder Singh-led government was not the true representation of the wishes of people of the state but a unilateral decision against their wishes," he said in a statement here.

Asserting that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act won't affect any Indian citizen, the BJP leader urged Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore to reject the "unconstitutional" resolution and direct the state government to get the amended Act implemented in the state to uphold the constitutional provisions.