Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment defending the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) that caste and religion were not criteria for the Centre's schemes, saying emotional outbursts were not enough and that the latter needs to prove his words with deeds.
Referring to Modi's speech in Delhi, the Chief Minister said that the Prime Minister's assurance 'sounds hollow' because Union Home Minister Amit Shah had contradicted the claim.
"The Prime Minister has said in his speech that caste and religion are not criteria for schemes. It is now up to him to prove his words with deeds. Emotional outbursts are never enough. The fundamental issue of CAA is that it discriminates on the basis of religion," Vijayan said in his facebook post.
Through the protest over the CAA, the people of the country have taken up the commitment to uphold the Constitution and asked the prime minister not to underestimate that emotion by misrepresenting it before the nation.
"When people ask questions about wrong decisions and communal approaches, he should have provided objective answers instead of emotional outbursts," Vijayan said.
He asked why the saffron party and its leadership were trying to be silent on what Amit Shah had said about the amended Citizenship Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Shah had, on May 1 this year, said and uploaded the video in a tweet saying the Centre would first pass the Citizenship Amendment Bill and ensure that all the refugees from neighbouring nations get Indian citizenship.
"He (Shah) continued to say that next the NRC would be made and we will detect and deport every infiltrator from our motherland. It is worth recollecting the claims made during the time of demonetisation; "give me 50 days" to end counterfeit notes menace, black money and terrorism. Well, we all know what happened," Vijayan said.
Speaking on violence during the recent protests against the CAA, Modi attacked the opposition for not making any appeal for peace and said their "silence" showed their indirect support to vandals targeting school buses and trains.
Praising the police forces which have faced criticism from some quarters for allegedly using excessive force against students and protestors in a few places, the Prime Minister said they have always come to people's help and noted that over 33,000 policemen have sacrificed their lives in duty since Independence.
Several protesters in states like Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Assam have died in alleged police firing.
Modi asked his rivals to burn his effigy and thrash it with shoes if they so wish, but they should not target assets and properties of others.
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