Kerala polls 2021: Pinarayi Vijayan, Rahul Gandhi target BJP as CAA takes centre-stage ahead of election

Malappuram: As the campaigning for the 6 April Assembly polls entered the final phase, the issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Act took the centre-stage on Thursday with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi attacking the BJP-led NDA over the
controversial law.

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While Gandhi said his party won't allow it to be implemented, Vijayan cautioned the people against the controversial law saying anyone who isn't preferred by the ruling dispensation can end up in the detention camps.

"We will not allow it to be implemented. So no need to worry about it," Gandhi said at an election meeting organised by the Congress-led UDF in the district.

The former Congress president, who campaigned in many of the Assembly constituencies in Wayanad and Malappuram districts on Thursday, said he had said the same thing on CAA during his Assembly election campaign in Assam two days ago.

Earlier, addressing a press conference in Kannur, Vijayan cited the Myanmar military's crackdown on protesters and said such a scenario can happen anywhere under a fascist regime.

"Let's not be under the false impression that CAA-NRC's detention camps are meant only for a certain community. Myanmar's example is before us. Anyone who isn't preferred by the ruling dispensation can end up in it. That's how fascism works. Secularism shouldn't be compromised," Vijayan said.

The statements from the Congress and CPM leaders came a day ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second visit to the southern state on Friday to address poll rallies.

While campaigning in Assam and West Bengal, BJP president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have asserted that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, passed by Parliament, will be implemented in time.

The Centre has maintained that the CAA was passed to grant citizenship to persecuted minorities from Islamic nations including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Kerala had witnessed protests by CPM-led LDF and the Congress-headed UDF seeking withdrawal of the CAA, describing it as "discriminatory" and "anti-Muslim."