‘Need to preserve secularism, democracy,' says Kerala's Pinarayi Vijayan in letter to 11 chief ministers on CAA

Thiruvananthapuram: Days after the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution on repealing the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday wrote to his counterparts in 11 states on the need to save secularism and democracy. [caption id=“attachment_5087231” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. PTI[/caption] In a letter to the chief ministers, including Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, Vijayan said, “Apprehensions have arisen among large sections of our society consequent to the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. The need of the hour is unity among all Indians who wish to protect and preserve our cherished values of democracy and secularism”, he said. The Kerala Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution demanding scrapping of CAA, amid raging countrywide protests against the legislation. The ruling CPI(M)-LDF and the opposition Congress-led UDF supported the resolution while BJP’s lone MLA and former union minister O Rajagopal’s was the only dissenting voice in the one-day special session.