Thiruvananthapuram:

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was brought to divide the people of the country and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had openly protested against it.

Addressing the Left election rally in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr Vijayan said, “CAA was brought to divide people. These are part of attempts to create fear. Those who are living for many years in the country are now being told they don’t have the right to live here. When CAA was brought the LDF government did not have any doubt to declare that it will not be implemented in Kerala.”

“First, the problem was food and after that clothes. In Uttar Pradesh, those people who wore a particular dress were targeted. Nuns were harassed on a train. These kinds of incidents should never happen in a country like ours. We have religious freedom. But the Sangh Parivar cannot tolerate those who have other religious beliefs.”

“This election in Kerala has national importance. The reason is that due to the situation that the country is going through. There are attempts to weaken the democratic process and weaken secular values in the country. Those who want to uphold the secular fabric of the country are looking at Kerala,” said Mr Vijayan.

“Whenever there were attempts to create a communal divide in the country or divide people Kerala LDF government has stood against this,” he added.

Alleging that the central government was protecting those attacking the secular values of the country Mr Vijayan said, “There are forces that try to attack the secular values of the country. But the Central Government is trying to protect those.”