Only Parliament has power to pass laws regarding citizenship: Ravi Shankar Prasad

Thiruvananthapuram: After the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution seeking the withdrawal of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday said that no state legislature has the power to pass any law with regard to citizenship.

"Citizenship, naturalisation and aliens are entry 17 on the Union list. Therefore, it is only the Parliament that has the power to pass any law with regards to citizenship, not any Assembly, including Kerala," Prasad said at a press conference here.

Taking a jibe at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Prasad said, "The constitution has a mandate -- Parliament - List 1, State Assemblies - List 2. I would again urge the Chief Minister to kindly have better legal advice."

Earlier in the day, the Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution seeking withdrawal of the CAA. Before the resolution was passed against the Act, Vijayan, in a special Assembly session, targetted the RSS and said that citizenship law is part of an agenda. "The CAA is part of an agenda. Muslims are being considered as internal enemies by RSS, who is controlling the ruling dispensation at the Centre," the Chief Minister alleged.

During the same presser, Prasad once again clarified that the 5G spectrum has been given to all private companies only for trial purposes. "The 5G spectrum has been given to everyone, only for trial. I am very keen that India must become a big hub of 5G innovation and good speed. we will work it out. Presently, it is only a trial," he further said.