Today in Politics: Anti-CAA protests, hartal in Assam; BJP, Congress may release second list of LS candidates

With the Narendra Modi-led government notifying the rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Tuesday will be all about how it all plays out on the national political stage and in states such as Assam and West Bengal where the Centre’s move is expected to have an immediate effect.

The Opposition has already expressed its intent, with the Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi saying they will oppose the implementation of the law and alleging that the BJP notified the rules on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections with political gains in mind. From the Congress and the Left to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the AIMIM, several Opposition parties have come out against the Centre’s move.

Kerala, which was the first state to oppose the implementation of the CAA, would not implement the law, said its Chief Minister and Left leader Pinarayi Vijayan. His West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee, meanwhile, said she would fiercely oppose CAA if she found it discriminatory against groups of people living in India and if it curtailed their existing citizenship rights in any manner. But can state governments refuse to implement a law as approved by Parliament? In the end, the states may not have much choice apart from moving court. As West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose told reporters in Kolkata on Monday, the notification of the law’s rules is a “logical conclusion”.

West Bengal: In Mamata’s case, how much of this is political posturing and how much she means what she says is not quite apparent. For the TMC, as well as the BJP, the votes of the Matuas, a community of Dalit refugees from present-day Bangladesh, are crucial.

The community had been pushing for the amendment of the citizenship law and its