Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee acting president and United Democratic Front (UDF) convener M.M. Hassan has accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of making self-righteous postures against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) to get Muslim votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
He told the media here on Wednesday that the UDF would not fall in the trap set by Mr. Vijayan by replying to his criticism against the Congress on the issue. “The Chief Minister is more virulent in snubbing the Congress than the BJP, which brought in the CAA. The State government’s case in the Supreme Court is that the Act would violate Centre-State federal principles. The case filed by Ramesh Chennithala, former Opposition leader, and the Indian Union Muslim League is against the violation of fundamental rights that the Act would entail. Our point is that religion should not be a criterion for granting citizenship,” he pointed out.
Mr. Hassan also refuted Mr. Vijayan’s allegations that the Congress had not opposed the CAA well enough by claiming that leaders such as Rahul Gandhi and Shashi Tharoor were in the forefront of criticising the Act. The Congress leader said that his party would collect funds from the people to meet the election expenditure of its candidates in the wake of the Income Tax department freezing the bank accounts of the All-India Congress Committee.
