Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 27 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala have welcomed the signature campaign in Australia against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) organised by Secular Forum, Melbourne.

In a message to the Forum, Vijayan said that he is glad to hear the signature campaign that has been launched to get the support of Indian diaspora and the efforts of the Forum can be replicated in other countries too.

Chennithala appreciated the Forum for such a campaign, even as there has been a lot of encore against CAA by several countries.

In Australia, there are more than six lakh Indians, with Keralites numbering 60,000.

Speaking to IANS over telephone from Melbourne, chief coordinator of the Forum, Thiruvallam Bhasi said that the signature campaign began on Sunday at Melbourne and it will end on February 26 and the message of top Kerala politicians was also read out at the meeting.

"We will send the memorandum to the President of India and a copy of it will be given to the Indian Embassy in Melbourne," said Bhasi a journalist based in Melbourne, but hails from the state capital here.

The Forum he said is basically a body consisting mostly of Keralites besides other South Indians too.

"Since CAA became a law, 10 protests have been held in Melbourne alone and four in the rest of Australia. We have already got in touch with the various Indian organisations here and have sent them the format to be adopted in the campaign. At our Sunday's meeting we got around 300 signatures," added Bhasi.