CPI-M, Congress, Tipra Motha Party strongly oppose CAA execution

way2barak, March 11 : Opposition CPI-M, Congress along with Tipra Motha Party (TMP) on Monday strongly criticised the Central government for notifying the necessary rules to execute the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

The opposition TMP, which after year-long hectic parlays and six days after signing of a tripartite agreement with the Centre and the Tripura government, joined the BJP-led coalition government in Tripura adding a new twist to Tripura politics and two of the MLAs of the party — Animesh Debbarma and Brishaketu Debbarma – become ministers on March 7.

The CPI-M and Congress leaders on Monday night claimed that the decision to notify the CAA rules was taken to reap undue political benefits by polarizing voters on religious lines ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

CPI-M Tripura state secretary Jitendra Chaudhury said the Left party since the beginning was opposing the CAA.

“It is not commensurate with the spirit of the Indian Constitution. According to the Constitution, people can’t be divided in the line of religion. It was enacted on religious lines to isolate a particular religion,” Chaudhury, who is also the CPI-M central committee member, told the media.

He said : “The intention of issuing the notification ahead of the parliamentary polls, as even ordinary men understand, was to consolidate their committed religious vote bank, through communal polarisation.”

Chaudhury, also a former Tripura Minister and former Lok Sabha member, also predicted that despite the notification, CAA would not be implemented anywhere, now that elections are knocking on the door, to be held in the next 2 to 3 months.

The Left leader also said that there is no scope of resorting to a separate agitation against the CAA and so, the CPI-M would raise the issue during the party’s campaign on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections.

State Congress President Ashish Kumar Saha, said : “The notification of CAA rules was made as a political instrument to divert the public attention from this fact”.

Saha, who is the Congress candidate for the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat and pitted against former Tripura Chief Minister and BJP candidate Biplab Kumar Deb, said that the Congress is undeterred on its reservations against both CAA and National Register of Citizens (NRC).

“We oppose both of them. We want to see their stand. BJP is trying to divert the issue. We oppose it completely. We are going to take our word to the people and we are not going to allow implementing the CAA,” the Congress leader said.

Tipra Motha Party (TMP) founder and former royal scion-turned-politician Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman, who had earlier organised a series of protests against the CAA, said, “Our party and my personal position remains the same on CAA.

We believe that until the entire law is made public, we shall not know what protection was given to tribals of the northeast region under it.”.

He also said that his case seeking execution of the NRC in Tripura is still being heard at the Supreme Court and his opposition to the CAA would continue.