Kerala CM criticises CAA; says idea of equality in Constitution shredded

Kasaragod: Speaking at a large anti-CAA rally that the Communist Party of India had organised in this state's most northern district, Vijayan criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party and claimed that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's structure and ideology were taken directly from the fascist movements of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Additionally, he claimed that the RSS, which is in charge of the BJP-led Central government, does not acknowledge secularism.

"Our country is secular but the RSS never accepted secularism. It wants to make India a theocracy and remove secularism. It considers some of us as enemies. It had declared religious minorities and communists as internal enemies," Vijayan said.

He referred to RSS ideologue M S Golwalkar's quote in one of his books that had termed Christians, Muslims and Communists as internal enemies of the country.

"Its ideology was not from any ancient texts or myths or vedas or from the Manusmriti but was taken from Hitler. We saw the genocide that followed Hitler's rule, which shocked the entire mankind. However, Hitler's actions were praised by the RSS in India. They announced that internal issues of a country should be resolved by taking an example from Hitler's Germany," the Left leader said.

He also said RSS leaders had visited Mussolini and adopted the fascist organisational structure.

Vijayan said the strength of India always lies in its unity in diversity.

"All of us differ in our beliefs, languages, cultures, food and attire. We are diverse in many fields and that is why we hold our diversity so dearly," he said.

The chief minister said crores of people are worried and concerned over the CAA, which he alleged targets the Muslims in the country.

"The idea of equality enshrined in our Constitution is being shredded through this law," he said.

Vijayan said protests erupted across the globe when the CAA was announced in India and world leaders criticised the move.

"Because none of the civilised societies in the world can accept citizenship based on religion. We should remember that even when the entire world opposed his actions, Hitler remained unfazed. The RSS is following his footsteps," he said.

Vijayan also attacked the Congress, which backed out from a joint protest against the CAA.

The chief minister continued his attack on the Congress leadership, alleging that they were completely silent even after the rules for the implementation of the CAA were notified recently by the Centre.

The Left party is organising massive anti-CAA rallies at five places in the state. The first rally was held in Kozhikode on Friday. Three more rallies will be held in the coming days at Kannur, Malappuram and Kollam.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently, got the president's assent, but there were protests in several parts of the country against the law, with many opposition parties calling it "discriminatory".

The Act grants citizenship to undocumented migrants of all religions except Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

With PTI inputs