CAA a communal exercise that will damage and divide the country, says Tharoor

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday denounced the central government's notification on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), calling it a divisive and damaging move with purely communal motives.

"It flies in the face of the core principle that in India, whatever your religion is, whatever your caste is, whatever your language is, whatever your colour is, whatever part of the country you live in, it doesn't matter. If you're a citizen of India, you have the same rights as everyone else," Tharoor told PTI.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC) member said he really hopes that "some smart lawyer will take this up before the Supreme Court and challenge its constitutionality".


Reiterating what he had already stated in Parliament against the CAA, the Thiruvananthapuram MP said that the fundamental principle of the Constitution has been violated by this law.

"The law is fundamentally misconceived, and I believe it is also an insult to the millennial traditions of our civilisation, where we have honestly offered refuge," Tharoor said.

Quoting Swami Vivekananda's historical speech in Chicago, Tharoor said the country has the tradition of giving refuge to the persecuted of all nations, and that is our country, and that is our history.

"Here in Kerala, the Jews fled persecution and came to Kerala. The Christians came here, the Muslims came as traders and brought their message. Everyone was welcomed," Tharoor said.

He said he himself had inaugurated seven protest functions against the CAA in Kerala.

"We will stand in protest against this," Tharoor said. He said the BJP was trying to put out a purely communal message by notifying the CAA in the wake of the election.

"Our problem is that the BJP is trying to divide this nation on the basis of religion. They are the real 'tukde-tukde' gang in this country," Tharoor added.

He said citizenship never had anything to do with religion, and removing one particular religion from the selection is a purely communal exercise.

"I really believe that just as someone born in India, irrespective of faith, can be a citizen, so also, if we're giving asylum to refugees and others from neighbouring countries, it should be religion-neutral; whoever qualifies should get the benefit," Tharoor added.