No State Can Deny Implementing CAA, It's Unconstitutional Says Kapil Sibal

Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Saturday said that no state can say that it will not implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, as doing so will be unconstitutional.

"When you come to national politics, I think we all must stand together because this is a national legislation. So, we should not be scoring political points. You must know that if the CAA is passed, no state can say 'I will not implement it'. That's not possible. That is unconstitutional. You can oppose it. You can pass a resolution in the Assembly and ask the central government to withdraw it (to say please withdraw it)," Sibal said on the sidelines of the Kerala Literature Festival here.

"But constitutionally to say that I will not implement it is going to be problematic and it is going to create more difficulty. So, what we need to do is politically get together, fight this battle and let the Congress party nationally lead the charge," he added. Sibal further stated that "constitutionally, it will be difficult for any state government to say that 'I will not follow a law passed by Parliament'." CAA grants citizenship to the non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who came to India on or before December 31, 2014.