Rajasthan Assembly passes anti-citizenship law resolution

NEW DELHI: The lawmaking body (locally called the Assembly) in the western Indian state of Rajasthan on Saturday passed a resolution demanding scrapping of the controversial new citizenship law in the country, officials said.

The move comes at a time when countrywide protests against the new law are raging in various Indian states. "Rajasthan Assembly has passed a resolution today against the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and we have urged the Central (federal) govt to repeal the law as it discriminates against people on religious grounds, which violates the provisions of our Constitution," Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot in a statement said.

"Our Constitution prohibits any kind of discrimination. This is the first time in the history of the nation that a law has been enacted which discriminates people on religious grounds. It violates secular principles of our Constitution and also Article 14 of our Constitution."

Rajasthan is the third state in India to pass the anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) resolution after Kerala and Punjab. Protests against the controversial new citizenship law were triggered on December 11 last year, the day India's upper house of parliament passed the law. Since then there has been no let-up in the protests. At least 27 people have been killed during the protests across India.

The law aims at granting citizenship to illegal immigrants belonging to six religions -- Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Parsi and Christianity -- from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, it has kept out Muslim immigrants from applying for citizenship.