SITARAM Yechury, general secretary of the CPI(M) demanded the repeal of Citizenship (Amendment) Act{CAA} 2019 as it is anti-constitutional - it links religion and citizenship, which, he said is ultra vires to the constitution of India. He said the amendment to the Citizenship Act goes against the fundamentals of the constitution. He opined this in a press conference and in a public meeting of CPI(M) after three day central committee meeting held in EMS Academy in Thiruvananthapuram on January 19, 2020.

CAA, NPR (national population register) and NRC(national register of citizens) are interlinked to each other and this entire package as a whole constitutes a big assault on secular and democratic foundations of our constitution, he said. This package is meant to transform a secular democratic India to a RSS vision of fascistic Hindu Rashtra. Abrogation of Article 370, Ayodhya issue, and CAA, NPR, NRC; are parts of this agenda. This will be dangerous to the very existence of our country.

The protests are sweeping across the country and every day the protests are taking place in different parts. The heartening feature of these protests is the large participation of youngsters including students, women and people from middle class, who value and cherish the idea of secular and democratic India.
While hailing and lending support to these protests; the central committee condemned the brutality unleashed by the police on the protesters. The protests remain peaceful and continue to be peaceful. The only places where death occurred due to police violence are states ruled by BJP. Twenty one people were killed in UP and five in Assam and two in Karnataka because of police firing. The state violence is condemnable. The UP chief minister, Yogi Adityanath clearly said that his government will take revenge. The visuals of police destroying the property went viral on the social media and exposed the police of their bigotry. The people in UP are now forced to pay fine for the damage to he property, the damage, which was not done by them. The British used to apply the same tactics and it is now repeated by the BJP against our own people. Yechury said in independent India such a draconian rule is not seen; even the Emergency period is no match to the tyrannical rule of the BJP .

Yechury further said that the NPR is the first stage towards NRC. Prime minister says untruth on NPR and NRC. When a question on NPR was asked in the Rajya Sabha in 2014, a written reply of the MHA(ministry of home affairs) said that the NPR will be conducted all over the county based on the amendment to the Citizenship Act’s rules framed during Vajpayee government in 2003.  This NPR will form the basis for national register of Indian citizens. All the non-Muslims whose names are not there in NRC will be given citizenship and Muslims will be selectively weeded out from the citizenship. A brazen anti-Muslim agenda to convert India to Hindu Rashtra-an RSS concept is uncovered through this exercise, Yechury said.

Speaking in a massive rally in Putharikkandam Maidan in Thiruvananthapuram, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan reiterated that Kerala government will not implement CAA. The state will not facilitate enumeration for the NPR that would overture for the preparation of the NRC. The government has stayed all such activities in Kerala, he added. Pinarayi also urged the Congress party led opposition to put aside their differences and to join hands with government to put up a united struggle against center’s attempt to divide the country on religious lines.