States have no powers to reject Citizenship Act: Home Ministry official

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was one of the CMs to reject the law

A top Union Home Ministry official said state governments have no power to reject the Citizenship Act as it was enacted under the Union List of the 7th Schedule of the Constitution, after several states said they won’t implement it.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, one of the foremost Opposition voices against the Act and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), was one of the CMs to reject the law.

While Punjab and Kerala also refused to implement it, Madhya Pradesh appeared set to reject the Act, with Chief Minister Kamal Nath asserting in New Delhi that it was part of the Centre’s “politics of distractions” to deflect people’s attention from economic slowdown.

“The stand of the Congress in any law that divides society will be the stand of the MP govt,” he said when asked if like West Bengal and Kerala, Madhya Pradesh too would reject the Act. Nath’s Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel shared similar view.