Chief Minister MK Stalin has said that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) will never allow the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to be implemented in Tamil Nadu. The CM’s statement comes a day after Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Shantanu Thakur claimed on January 30 that CAA would be implemented across India in a week.
In his statement, Stalin said, “The DMK will never allow CAA to be brought in Tamil Nadu. I am repeating this: I will never let CAA set foot in Tamil Nadu.” The CM also criticised the AIADMK for their support of the Act when it was being discussed in the Lok Sabha. In 2019, the Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed into an Act in Parliament with the support of all 11 of AIADMK’s then-MPs.
In his statement, Stalin went on to say, “A BJP union minister has claimed that CAA will be implemented not only in West Bengal, but across the country in seven days. The first reason that the Citizenship Amendment Bill was made a law that denies citizenship to Sri Lankan Tamils and Muslims, is the AIADMK. At the time, even though we were in Opposition, not only did we conduct large-scale protests alongside comrade organisations, we also collected signatures against the Act from 2 crore people and submitted them to the President. As soon as we came to power in 2021, we passed a resolution against CAA in the Assembly.”
Stalin also added, “The people of the country are watching the vandalistic acts by the BJP who are against religious harmony and the insidious drama of the AIADMK.”
On January 30, Union Minister Shantanu Thakur had been speaking at a BJP rally in 24 Parganas, West Bengal, where he said, “The Ram temple has been inaugurated, and within the next seven days, CAA will be implemented across the country. This is my guarantee. Not just in West Bengal, the CAA would be implemented in every state of India within a week,” he said. However, the Union Government has made no such announcement officially.