The unanimous passing of a resolution against Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in the state Assembly today has sent a message to the BJP-ruled government at the Centre that the people of this state do not support this legislation, former PCC chief Pradip Bhattacharya said today. Other states have passed similar resolutions and West Bengal joins their rank today making its opposition to the Act loud and clear, he said.

After all, the state Assembly, comprising of people’s representatives, voices the will of the people, the Congress member from Rajya Sabha said. In the same way, the Parliament too is an assembly of people’s representatives although the constituencies are bigger in this House, he added. With a succession of state Assemblies resolving against the CAA, it is time the Union government scraps it, Bhattacharya said.

A fresh resolution should be moved in the Parliament annulling the CAA, he felt. But then the unanimous resolution from West Bengal Assembly comes a bit late in the day, Bhattacharya added. Had chief minister, Mamata Banerjee and her party Trinamul Congress set aside their egos and agreed to the Congress-Left Front proposal to move this resolution earlier, it would have been in keeping with the progressive image of the state, he said.

But now it is better late than never, the veteran Congress leader said. The delay in moving this resolution indicates the quality of political sagacity of the ruling party in the state, he said. Leader of the Left Legislature Party Sujan Chakraborty said that they have supported the resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the Assembly, which appeals to the Union government to repeal the amended citizenship law and revoke plans to implement NRC and update NPR.

“We want some specific amendment on this resolution. State government must be brave to include some specific amendments to strengthen the resolution but our plea was ignored. Other states adopted several amendments but West Bengal government did not do this despite our appeal,” he said. BJP’s national secretary Rahul Sinha said that the Trinamul Congress-led government today brought a resolution which is unconstitutional.

“CAA was cleared by the Centre. State could not challenge it. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee government is afraid if NPR and CAA will be implemented here then real rate of unemployment and number of total infiltrators in the state will be revealed. Now Congress and CPI-M became companion of Mamata which is also ridiculous,” he said.