Udhayakumar allays Cong fears over detention centres

“Camps are already setup in Karnataka and Maharashtra. We do not know the purpose of the camps yet, but there is a strong doubt that if citizenship cannot be proved people would be put up in the detention centres,” said Ramasamy, while speaking on the debate on Governor’s address.

Responding to the question, Revenue Minister RB Udhayakumar said that no such detention camps would be established in the state. “Ramasamy’s fears that citizenship would be rejected for minorities and they would be put up in detention centres are hypothetical. No such detention camps would be setup in the state.”

Earlier, Ramasamy said that the Citizenship Amendment Act was passed with a malicious intention of dividing people based on religion and more importantly the citizens have to prove their identity which again raises several doubts about the future of those who cannot prove their citizenship.

Udhayakumar replied that when Congress was in power in 2011, National Population Register (NPR) was introduced and details were collected for NPR, but no citizen of the country was affected. Similarly, in 2021 Census too citizens would not be affected by NPR.

Ramasamy also questioned the status of Tasmac shops in the state. “The late chief minister J Jayalalithaa assured that number of Tasmac shops would be reduced in the state. Has government implemented it,” he asked.

Answering him, Electricity Minister P Thangamani said that Jayalalithaa closed 500 shops and after Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami took over he also shut 500 shops. “Before 2016, there were 6,764 liquor shops, but now there are only 5,500 shops across the state,” added Thangamani.