‘CAA was enacted to prove that our Constitution has no value’

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi leader Thol. Thirumavalavan has accused the BJP government at the Centre of having brought in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act to prove that it is possible to enact an anti-secular legislation notwithstanding the country’s secular Constitution. Excerpts from an interview:

The Prime Minister’s firm stand on the issue tells us that a continuous fight is necessary. Our protests will continue till the government repeals the Act — and this may take years. The VCK will join hands with democratic forces at the national level to take the struggle forward.

The CAA is one aspect and the NPR is another. The NPR will target not just Muslims, but all sections of society. If the NPR is implemented, around eight crore people would be rendered stateless. They (the authorities) are planning to construct 27,000 detention camps at an estimated cost of ₹12 lakh crore, at a time when the country is going through severe economic difficulties.

Once the NPR exercise is carried out, it will pave the way for the National Register of Citizens. It will categorise the population into citizens, non-citizens and doubtful citizens. The doubtful citizens will also include Hindus. It will create tension in society and may lead to a civil war. The most dangerous issue facing the country today is the NPR. But Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami is not ready to discuss it.

The CAA is out-and-out communal and anti-Constitution. There is a hidden agenda [behind it]. By implementing the Act, the government wants to alienate Muslims. It is targeting Muslims and seeking to portray all of them as terrorists and anti-nationals and others as law-abiding citizens. This agenda will have a psychological effect on Indian Muslims. In the long-run, it will create an unbridgeable divide between Muslims and non-Muslims.

The objective of the BJP government at the Centre is to dilute the Constitution. It wants to prove that the present Constitution has no value and is planning to get rid of it. It likes to send across the message that an anti-secular law is possible even though the Constitution is secular.

The government has not handled the refugees issue in a genuine manner. All those who have infiltrated into the country or sought asylum or overstayed here should be treated as refugees, and a humanitarian approach is the basic way to deal with refugees. But the government is using religion as a yardstick. More than one lakh Sri Lankan Tamils are here. The idea of dual citizenship for Sri Lankan Tamils, 90% of whom are Hindus, is humbug. It can be implemented only if the Sri Lankan government gives its consent. The BJP government at the Centre does not seem to have any affinity with the Hindus of Sri Lanka.

Our struggle is only against the principles of sanatana dharma and not Hindu society as a whole. As per my certificate, I am also a Hindu, and 80% of VCK cadre belong to this religion. They undertake pilgrimages to Sabarimala and tonsure their heads in Tiruttani and Tirupati. How can we be against the Hindu community? Whether it is the VCK, the DMK or the Left parties, a majority of the cadre are Hindus. We are against the BJP and the Sangh Parivar. They seek to portray us as anti-Hindus.

It is a common mindset of the Hindu community, and not an individual mindset. Actually, he made those remarks in response to those who attack the Dravidian Movement. The intention is not to insult Dalits or Dr. Ambedkar. We need to correct the mindset.