States refusing to implement CAA is unconstitutional, says Nirmala Sitharaman

Saying they will not execute it, then it is versus the law.”A state assembly can pass resolution that they will not carry out CAA. They can go ahead and we will not state no to that. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday dubbed the proposition of some states to not execute the Citizenship Amendment Act as ‘unconstitutional’ and stated it was the obligation of all states to make sure that the law passed in Parliament is executed. “A state assembly has actually passed a resolution versus CAA. It is like making a political statement. We can comprehend that. But saying they will not implement it, then it protests the law. It is unconstitutional to state that,” she stated. Sitharaman was reacting to a question from among the audience at an event on CAA, arranged by Chennai Citizens’ Forum, that some states like Kerala have opposed implementation of the CAA in their respective states. “A state assembly can pass resolution that they will not implement CAA. It is a political declaration. They can go on and we will not state no to that. Everybody in this country has the responsibility to execute the law which has actually been passed in Parliament,”, the minister, who is here as part of BJP’s nationwide ‘Jan Jagran Abhiyan’ project in support of the Act, said. The Kerala government last week moved the Supreme Court against the CAA, looking for to declare it “violative of the concepts of flexibility, equality and secularism enshrined in the Constitution”. Several state governments consisting of Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra have actually voiced their disagreement with the CAA, along with National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR). Congress Leader Kapil Sibal had said there was no chance a state can reject execution of CAA when it has actually currently been passed by Parliament.