NEW DELHI:
Congress
general secretary (communications) Jairam
Ramesh
on Friday said the party’s position on
Citizenship
Amendment Act (
CAA
) was clearly stated in its manifesto where it promised to “review and change all anti-people laws” brought by BJP govt. However, he refused to explicitly say whether the contentious law would be repealed.
Senior Congress politician P Chidambaram had said last month that CAA would be scrapped once the INDIA bloc was voted to office.
Notably, CAA did not find a mention in the party’s manifesto, which was drafted under Chidambaram’s chairmanship.
Asked whether the party would repeal CAA, Ramesh told TOI, “I am not commenting on what Chidambaram said. What he said is his personal view. I am going by the manifesto approved by him as chairman of the committee and approved by Congress prez and the party’s working committee. I am stating the party position. The word CAA does not figure in the manifesto.” He, however, said Congress believed that making religion the basis of reservation and citizenship was unconstitutional.
“We opposed CAA in Parliament on the ground that it gives citizenship on the basis of religion. Our Constitution doesn’t provide for reservation or citizenship on the basis of religion,” Ramesh added.
Congress manifesto said, “We promise that all
anti-people laws
passed by the BJP-NDA without proper parliamentary scrutiny and debate, especially those relating to workers, farmers, criminal justice, environment and forests and digital data protection will be thoroughly reviewed and changed.”
