Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday reiterated his stand that the Citizenship Amendment Act will not be implemented in the state, ANI reported.

“Union Home Minister [Amit Shah] has said that work to provide citizenship will be undertaken after vaccination drive will conclude,” Vijayan said. “We have made it clear that CAA will not be implemented in Kerala.”

“If we say that CAA would not be implemented, that means it would not be implemented...I am repeating that,’’ the Kerala chief minister added, according to The Indian Express. He was speaking at an event marking the inauguration of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s statewide tour ahead of the Assembly elections this year.

Vijayan’s comment came days after Shah, while speaking at an election rally in West Bengal, had said that the citizenship law will be implemented after the inoculation process in the country is completed. Significantly, the Kerala Assembly had in 2019 passed a resolution demanding the withdrawal of CAA, becoming the first state to do so.

Meanwhile, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala tweeted saying that his party had spearheaded the movement against the law and will not allow its implementation anywhere in the country.

The Citizenship Amendment Act, approved by Parliament on December 11, provides citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, on the condition that they have lived in India for six years and entered the country by December 31, 2014. It has been widely criticised for excluding Muslims. Protests against the CAA had started in Delhi in mid-December and spread across the country.