Legal eagles Sibal, Khurshid say States can’t disobey Central law; party says they can’t be forced 

With its own leaders citing the rulebook to press upon the fact that States cannot say no to implement a law passed by Parliament, in this case the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, a red-faced Congress on Sunday sought to undo the damage by calibrating its stance on the issue.

Until the Supreme Court takes a decision on the matter, States cannot be forced to implement the “unconstitutional law”, the Congress asserted even as it maintained that like Punjab, the other States ruled by it are thinking about bringing a resolution against the CAA.

It said repeated statements by Home Minister Amit Shah and the Governors on “forcing” States to implement the CAA was against constitutional federalism and the people’s movement against the legislation will “go on fearlessly”.

“Let the BJP Government and its Governors not forget that India is a Union of States. States can disagree with the Union and challenge the same by way of their constitutional right under Article 131 of the Constitution,” Congress’ chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said in a statement that also came against the backdrop of an ongoing tussle between the Kerala Governor and the Pinarayi Vijayan dispensation over the CAA.

However, the Congress’ statement came not before another of its senior leader and former Union Minister Salman Khurshid backed party colleague Kapil Sibal’s remark earlier that States cannot say “no’’ to a law passed by Parliament. Sibal reiterated his assertion on Sunday too saying if the law is declared constitutional by the Supreme Court then it will be problematic to oppose it.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, meanwhile, rejected allegations that the Narendra Modi Government was selective in granting citizenship and said singer Adnan Sami and author Taslima Nasreen were among the over 3,900 people who had been given Indian citizenship in the last six years.

While senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said party-ruled Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan too are contemplating to pass a resolution against the CAA to send out a clear message to the Central Government to reconsider the legislation, Khurshid said, “If something is on the statute book, you have to obey law, else there are consequences. If the Supreme Court doesn’t interfere, it will remain on the statute book.”

“It is a matter where the State Governments have a very serious difference of opinion with the Centre as far as this (CAA) law is concerned. So, we would wait for the final pronouncement made by the top court. Ultimately, the top court will decide and till then everything said, done, not done is provisional and tentative.”

Sibal, who was participating in the Kerala Literature Festival (KLF) at Kozhikode on Saturday, had said that “a State cannot say no to a law cleared by Parliament”.

Though he sought to play down the controversy saying every State Assembly has the constitutional right to pass a resolution and seek the amended Citizenship Act’s withdrawal, nevertheless, he reiterated, “When and if the law is declared to be constitutional by the Supreme Court then it will be problematic to oppose it. The fight must go on!”

His remarks had caused a flutter as several non-BJP Governments, including Kerala, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Maharashtra have voiced their disagreement with the CAA as well as National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).

“If the CAA is passed no State can say ‘I will not implement it’,” Sibal said.

“It is not possible and is unconstitutional. You can oppose it, you can pass a resolution in the Assembly and ask the Central Government to withdraw it. But constitutionally saying that I won’t implement, it is going to be problematic and going to create more difficulties,” the former Law Minister had said.

Defending the CAA, Sitharaman maintained there was no necessity to mix up the NRC and NPR with the CAA and appealed to those opposing the Act not to make allegations that would lead to unrest among the public.

She was addressing a CAA event in Chennai as part of BJP’s nationwide ‘Jan Jagran Abhiyan’ campaign in support of the Act.

The CAA provides for granting citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian minorities who faced religious persecution and fled from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, and came to India on or before December 31, 2014.