News Tamil Nadu

From Supporting CAA To Opposing Its Implementation, EPS’ ADMK Does A U-Turn To Appease Islamists

March 12, 2024
The Commune

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), formerly an ally of the National Democratic Alliance, has undergone a substantial transformation, resembling them as new Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

In 2019, AIADMK’s official stance differed significantly from its current position in 2024. In that year, the official X handle of AIADMK stated, “Central Government has made it clear about Citizenship Act, Citizenship Act does not affect any religion in India – Hon’ble Edappadi K Palaniswami Interview.”

However, fast forward to 2024, Edappadi K. Palaniswami in his official social media page wrote that it “vehemently condemns” the action of the Central government saying that it is being implemented to create division among people for electoral gain. Palaniswami also added that the Central government has made a “huge mistake” through this step.

“The ruling BJP government at the center has published a notification in the gazette that the CAA Act 2019 (Citizenship Amendment Act) will be implemented from today. AIADMK has been insisting that this Act should not affect any indigenous community in the country. As a result of which this law has not been enforced for the last 5 years, the CAA has been implemented for electoral gain in order to create division among the people in view of the upcoming elections. AIADMK vehemently condemns this action of the central government which has been carried out to divide the people. The central government has made a huge historical mistake by this.“, Edappadi Palaniswami said.

He further added that the “AIADMK will never allow this CAA brought in the name of Refugee Citizenship Act against former citizens Muslims and Tamil Eelam people. I would like to inform you that AIADMK will fight democratically along with the people of the country against this.”

Earlier in January 2024, Palaniswami issued a statement about CAA saying “The DMK has been betraying the minorities by making a political capital of and doing drama over communal politics, while cooperate with the BJP when they are in power and opposing them when they are not in power. Having supported the NIA and UAPA laws which affects the minorities severely, people are watching the drama of the DMK, which only shows opposition to the BJP in statements and stage speeches.”

ADMK’s Duplicity

The Citizenship Amendment Act enacted by the BJP-led government in 2019, facilitates citizenship for non-Muslim communities, including Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who entered India on or before 31 December 2014.

The law is a fallout of the bloody partition of India which put non-Muslim minorities in Muslim-majority neighbouring countries of India at the mercy of the Islamic state. State-sponsored and aided persecution led non-Muslim minorities in these countries to flee and come to India. Hence the law aims to heal the wounds of partition by expediting the citizenship process for those who are staying as refugees in India for decades.

Opposition parties allege that this legislation is specifically aimed at targeting Indian Muslims, potentially depriving them of their citizenship if implemented. However, the act has nothing to do with Indian Muslims. CAA does not, by itself, change any Indian citizen’s current citizenship status. It offers particular religious minorities from the aforementioned nations an alternate route to citizenship. It is noteworthy to mention that the AIADMK had back then voted in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Bill to become an Act.

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