‘India Becoming Hitler’s Germany’: Punjab CM to Move SC Over CAA

The Kerala government has also filed a case in the Supreme Court against the Centre under Article 131.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.

(Photo: PTI)

Shortly after the Punjab Assembly passed a resolution by voice vote against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday, 17 January, said his government will approach the Supreme Court on the issue, as Kerala has done.

The chief minister said in the Assembly “what happened in Germany under Hitler in 1930 is happening in India now”.

Terming the "divisive" Act and NRC as a tragedy, he said, "Where will the poor go and from where will they procure their birth certificates... this is a great tragedy. And I am very sorry to say... I wish I was not here when this is happening to my country where we are going to be in a situation where brotherhood is being broken for politics."

“Germans did not speak out then, and they regretted it, but we have to speak out now, so that we don’t regret later,” he asserted, urging the Opposition, particularly the Akalis, to read Adolf Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ to understand the dangers of CAA.

After Kerala, Congress-led Punjab Govt to Move SC

The Kerala Assembly was the first to pass the resolution and move Supreme Court against the amended Citizenship Act.

He said the Centre will have to make the necessary amendments to the CAA if it has to be implemented in Punjab and other states opposing the legislation.

"Like Kerala, our government will also approach the Supreme Court on the issue," Singh told reporters in an informal chat outside the state Assembly.

The resolution moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra was passed after over three hours of discussion, earlier in the day.

While the ruling Congress and main opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supported the resolution, the BJP opposed it.

The SAD sought inclusion of Muslims in the list of communities that could be granted citizenship under the amended law.

After a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, 14 January, Amarinder Singh’s colleagues in the ministry had expressed concern over the implications of the "blatantly unconstitutional and divisive CAA, NRC and NPR."

“The ministers were of the view that the matter was bound to be raised during the two-day session of the assembly on 16-17 January, and it was unanimously decided that the government should accept the will of the House,” an official statement had said.

Singh had said neither he nor the Congress were against granting citizenship to minorities persecuted on the basis of religion but they were completely opposed to the "discrimination in the CAA against certain religious communities, including Muslims".