With the Centre government decided to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA),2019 and has notified the rules of the Act on Monday, the Lok Sabha election campaign issues have been completely changed in Kerala.

Prior to the notification of the CAA rules, corruption, monthly pay-off allegation against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan, non payment welfare pensions Padmaja Venugopal’s enrty into BJP were the main campaign issues in the state. Now, the CAA has come as the major campaign issue, surpassing all other issues.

After the Centre’s notification of the CAA rules, the ruling CPM-led LDF and the Congress-led UDF Opposition Congress began to concentrate in the battle for Muslim votes, projecting themselves as they are in the forefront in the fight against the Sangh Parivar.

Shortly after the Home ministry notified the CAA rules,Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reiterated that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act(CAA) will not be implemented in Kerala.

“Our government has repeatedly said that the Citizenship Amendment Act, which treats Muslim minorities as second-class citizens, will not be implemented in the state,” Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement on Monday . The fact is that the state governments have no significant role in implementing the CAA.

The CAA will be a major issue in Kerala in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and both the CPM and Congress are vying with each other to project themselves as the champion of the Muslim cause.

In 2019 the CPM used the CAA to woo Muslims and some Muslin organisations have lauded the Left government for its firm stand against the CAA.

The Congress and the CPM seemed to vie with each other to tap into the growing fear that the CAA was patently ‘anti-Muslim’.They are competing each other in wooing the Muslims stating that “ we will protect your interest at any cost’

The Congress will use the Centre’s CAA notification as an opportunity to regain the lost confidence of the Muslim community while the CPM will use the issue for a further consolidation of Muslim votes in its favour.

Winning back the trust of Muslims is a must for the Congress. The Congress may intervene in the issue more aggressively in the coming days to assuage the wounded Muslim feelings

CPM state secretary M V Govindan said the party will launch an agitation, joining hands with like-minded people.But the allegation that the LDF government had not fulfilled its promise of withdrawing the cases registered against those who took part in the 2019 anti-CAA agitations is raised against the CPM again. The Congress and the IUML had said that the refusal to withdraw the cases showed the lack of sincerity on the part of the CPM in dealing with the issue.

Opposition leader in the Kerala Assembly VD Satheesan alleged that state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan is not sincere in opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as his government has not withdrawn the cases registered against over 800 persons who protested against the Act after it was passed by Parliament in 2019

Satheesan asked as to why he failed to keep his promise even after about five years of registering the case against the protesters. “ Is the government siding with the Centre by not withdrawing the cases?,” Satheesan asked

He alleged that the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government did not have even an iota of genuineness in its opposition to the CAA as it failed to keep the promise of withdrawing the cases.

VD Satheesan on Wednesday said that the repeated statement of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan that the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) will not be implemented in Kerala is a Constitutional improbability aimed at misleading voters in Kerala

Satheesan said only parliamentary legislation by a Congress-led government can annul this communally divisive law

Stating that the states had little role in implementing the divisive CAA, Satheesan said only parliamentary legislation can revoke the law passed by the Lok Sabha in 2019. The Congress is the only secular political force that could bring about such a legislation at the national level, he said.

The CAA notification has come as a blessing in disguise for the ruling CPM which has been facing massive anti-incumbency. The LDF government has been facing the wrath of people as the government failed to pay the social security pension for the last six months, salary of government employees has been delayed, DA instalments due to the government employees have not been paid. Subsidised grocery items are not being distributed through the Supply Co. outlets.. All these issues have now gone on the back burner as the Centre decided to implement the CAA and both the Opposition front and ruling front concentrates their attention on CAA

Meanwhile, the BJP has clarified that the CAA does not aim to disenfranchise any Indian citizen. “The Congress and the CPM are playing vote-bank politics by spreading lies,” BjP Kerala president K Surendran said

As per the notification, a Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014, can seek Indian citizenship without producing a valid passport of these countries or a valid visa from India.Since there are no eligible migrants from these countries in Kerala, the CAA notification will not make any impact in Kerala. Yet,anti-CAA protests rocked the state, since the Centre government notified the rules of CAA.

The Youth Congress workers blocked Malabar express in Kozhikode railway station. on Monday.They were forcefully removed by the police..The Youth Congress workers also blocked Maveli express at Ernakulam south railway station. The workers of Welfare party and SDPI staged protests march before the Kerala Raj Bhavan on Tuesday. Night marches were held by Youth Congress, DYFI, Youth League workers in various parts of the state against the CAA .

Panniyan Raveendran, the LDF candidate in Thiruvananthapuram, led a march to the office of the accountant-general on Tuesday in protest against the notification. CPM leader KK Shailaja, who is the candidate in Vadakara, led a night march on Tuesday in Thalassery with the slogan “CAA in the Arabian sea’

Hundreds of Congress workers marched to the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday to protest against the Centre’s notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules. Opposition leader VD Satheesan inaugurated the MarchThe DYFI workers blocked train services at the Alappuzha railway station on Wednesday. They stopped Thiruvananthapuram- Lokmanya Tilak Express. The protesters were later arrested and removed from the railway track by the police and Railway Protection Force

KPCC president K Sudhakaran has urged the people of the state to oppose the act with all their might.

“ We declare that once the INDI alliance come to power, the CAA will be thrown to the Arabian sea.I urge everyone to vigorously oppose the implementation of this act, which is a communally divisive law,” Sudhakaran said

In 2019 too, when the CAA was passed by Parliament, Kerala witnessed widespread protests