West Bengal becomes fourth Indian state to pass anti-CAA resolution

West Bengal becomes fourth Indian state to pass anti-CAA resolution

The eastern Indian state of West Bengal on Monday became the fourth state legislature to pass a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) amid a massive protest across the country against the controversial law and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), Scroll.in reported quoting PTI.

Earlier, Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan passed resolutions against the controversial law. While Punjab and Rajasthan are ruled by the Congress, Kerala and West Bengal have governments of Left Front and Trinamool Congress, respectively.

Speaking in the assembly as her government moved the resolution, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, "This protest is not only of minorities but of all. I thank my Hindu brothers for leading this protest from the forefront. In Bengal, we won't allow CAA, NPR, and NRC. We will fight peacefully."

Mamata has been a strong critic of the new law and has led the protest in her state from the front.

The West Bengal Assembly had already passed a resolution against the National Population Register (NPR) on December 16 and another against the NRC in September.

States such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Bihar have said they will not implement the CAA or the NPR and the NCR.

The CAA and the NRC were a key part of the election manifesto of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindu nationalist party.

The government believes the legislation is needed to protect refugees across south Asia. The CAA aims to fast-track citizenship for persecuted Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who arrived in India before December 31, 2014, from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The Act has been widely criticised for excluding Muslims, leading to protests against it. Clashes between protesters and police leaving at least 26 dead have been a regular occurrence since December 12, when the government passed the legislation.

Tens of thousands protested in India’s financial hub of Mumbai, as well as Lucknow, the capital of populous Uttar Pradesh state which has seen the highest number of deaths since the unrest began. Both were predominantly female-led.

The NRC is a proposed nationwide exercise to identify undocumented immigrants. One such exercise, carried out in India’s northeastern state of Assam last year, resulted in the exclusion of 1.9 million people.