BJP didn't take states' opinion before passing CAA: Tarun Gogoi

Former Assam Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Tarun Gogoi on Monday said that the Modi government didn't take states into confidence before passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 or CAA.

"India is a union of states and you (Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government) must respect the states. Prime Minister Modi is talking about 'Team India' and to follow that you have to take everybody into confidence. Mere passing a law is not enough. We also want that Assam government request the Centre to repeal it. But we don't have any majority in Assam." Tarun Gogoi said.

The Congress leader claimed that if all the states were consulted on the act, they would not have boycotted the law or said that they won't implement it. Punjab and Kerala governments have stated that they would not be implementing the act in their states.

The former Assam Chief Minister further said that there was no need for CAA to give shelter to some people on humanitarian grounds.

Tarun Gogoi claimed that there were no cases of religious persecution in Bangladesh and 'Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's recent statement has proved it'.

The former Assam Chief Minister said that not a single application came from someone requesting asylum on the basis of religious persecution in Bangladesh during his 15-year tenure.

Recently, Assam Finance minister and convenor of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) Himanta Biswa Sarma said that it was not possible for the applicants to provide proof of religious persecution under the new citizenship act.