Amid the continued protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Kerala Assembly on Tuesday (31 December) passed a resolution demanding the withdrawal of the Act by the central government, reported News 18.

While the usual rivals - the CPI-M led Left Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) joined hands to pass, the lone dissent came from the BJP legislator O Rajagopal.

Opening the debate was Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who pointed out that the entire country was shocked and protests were every where against the CAA.

"The world is in astonishment when it read through the intricacies of the CAA, where religion has been the benchmark of this division. And seeing this, the Indian diaspora is in a state of shock. There will be no detention centres in Kerala. India is known for its secularism and that has come under duress. Under no circumstances can this CAA go forward and hence should be withdrawn," said Vijayan.

Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala pointed out that the CAA has now become the biggest challenge before the country since Independence.

"India did not surface one fine morning, instead it evolved over years and years of hard work and see what has taken place now. The Constitution is one which was carefully prepared. The Indian Citizenship Act came into effect in 1955 and since then six times it underwent changes, but not once was anything done in the name of religion. Now see, in one stroke everything is in shambles and the country is being sliced and hence this should go," said Chennithala.

Incidentally, Kerala was one of the first state to organise a protest when the ruling and the opposition joined hands to stage a four-hour protest, early this month to oppose the CAA.

(With inputs from IANS)