Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister, MK Stalin, alongside a number of other chief ministers, including West Bengal, has vowed that he will not allow for the implementation of Indian Citizen Amendment Act which specifically excludes Muslims and Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka from being granted citizenship.
"The rules notified for the Act by the Union government not only go against the basic structure of the Constitution but are also against the welfare of Indian people, the multi-dimensional character of India and its secular character," Stalin told the Indian Assembly.
Despite his objections, chief ministers for different states will have little say in its application as it will largely fall under the central government.
In his statement, Stalin also slammed the opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (AIADMK) for voting in favour of the amendment when it was taken up in Parliament. The act was supported by all 11 AIADMK members in the Rajya Sabha and passed with 125 MPs voting in favour and 99 against.
At the time the central government had promised to carve out an exemption for Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka which would grant them dual citizenship. This was advertised in the AIADMK’s mouthpiece ‘Puratchithalaivi Namadhu Amma’ in 2019 but the central government abandoned this promise.
The CAA was passed in December 2019 and saw widespread violence that resulted in over 100 people killed. The Indian Ministry of Home Affairs has now operationalised the act via a new rules notification on 11 March 2024.
Stalin has slammed the act as a betrayal of Muslims and Tamils and an act to sow the “seeds of division”.
There are over 65,000 Eelam Tamil refugees across the 107 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. At least 25,000 of these refugees are children. These refugees are provided subsistence payment by the state government but are granted no rights. There have been continuous protests in these refugee camps with detainees calling for freedom. In September 2021, an estimated 29 Tamil refugees attempted to take their own lives as they continue to be confined to these refugee camps.
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