Tamil Nadu government will not implement CAA, says CM Stalin
Chennai, Mar 12: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday dismissed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act as 'divisive and bereft of any use' and asserted that it will not be implemented in the state.
Hitting out at the BJP regime at the Centre for notifying the rules for implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) 'in a haste' when the Lok Sabha polls are round the corner, Stalin said the CAA and its rules went against the basic structure of the Constitution.
Explaining the background to the opposition to CAA and hinting at related matters pending in the Supreme Court, the Chief Minister said this prompted a view if the rules have been notified now to "escape from censure of the apex court and with an intention to divert people and for electoral politics."
There is not going to be any use or benefits due to the CAA, which only paves the way for creating 'divisions' among the Indian people. "The stand of the government is that this law is completely unwarranted; it is one that must be repealed."
Hence, "the Tamil Nadu government will not give any opportunity in any manner to implement the CAA in Tamil Nadu," he asserted in an official release.
Also, the state government will never provide room for any legislation that shall 'impinge on India's unity.'
Stalin, also president of the ruling DMK, reiterated that the CAA went against pluralism, secularism, minority communities and the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.
Considering all such aspects, soon after assuming power, his DMK government had on September 8, 2021 adopted a resolution in the Assembly, seeking the withdrawal of the CAA and forwarded it to the Union government. Like Tamil Nadu, several states have opposed the CAA.
Only under such circumstances, the Centre has notified the rules on March 11 for implementing the CAA. The Chief Minister said this has led to a question, if this has been implemented now for "electoral politics; to divert people and to escape from strictures of the Supreme Court."
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MP cruise boat tragedy: Search ops expanded to trace four missing passengers
Jabalpur (PTI): Army divers and disaster response teams on Saturday expanded their search at Bargi Dam in Madhya Pradesh to locate a man and three children still missing after the cruise boat tragedy that claimed nine lives two days ago, officials said.
With 28 of the 41 identified passengers onboard the ill-fated cruise boat rescued safely, police are preparing to register an FIR in connection with the accident that occurred at the reservoir in Jabalpur district on Thursday evening, they said.
The search radius has been expanded to 5 km in the backwaters of the Bargi Dam, located downstream of the Narmada River, area sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra told PTI.
Nine people drowned in the incident, while 28 were rescued, and efforts are ongoing to trace the missing persons, he said.
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According to the police, more than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, began the search operation at 5 am on Saturday to trace Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory in Khamaria, his son Tamil (5), Vijay Soni (6) and Mayuram (5).
Mishra said that an inquest case has been registered and the post-mortem of nine deceased persons has been completed.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will soon register an FIR," he said.
Investigators have said that CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the ill-fated boat, and the names of 41 persons, who boarded the vessel, have been ascertained so far.
Collector Raghvendra Singh confirmed that a search is underway for four missing persons.
The rescue operation, being carried out by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local divers, was briefly affected around 9 am due to strong winds.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the incident and dismissed three crew members after survivors alleged negligence and safety lapses, including failure to provide life jackets.
The government also banned the operation of similar vessels in the state.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, sank during a sudden storm around 6 pm on Thursday, and the wreckage was retrieved from the dam water on Friday, after the rescuers confirmed that there were no more bodies inside.
Eyewitnesses have said that strong winds made the water choppy, prompting passengers to raise an alarm and ask the crew to steer the vessel towards the riverbank.
A survivor alleged negligence by the crew and described a last-minute scramble for life jackets.
