Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA): Union Home Ministry’s Strategic Notification Ahead of Lok Sabha Elections
New Delhi, 11-03-2024 : Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Union Home Ministry made a significant announcement on Monday by notifying the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, four years after the law was passed in parliament. The CAA, introduced by the Narendra Modi government in 2019, aims to provide citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.
To facilitate the granting of citizenship, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has established a portal for applicants, streamlining the entire process to be conducted online. Applicants will be required to declare the year of their entry into India without travel documents.
Government sources anticipate protests in states such as Assam, West Bengal, and Delhi, but assert that significant efforts have been made in recent months to address concerns surrounding the issue. Strong protests erupted nationwide after the law was passed in 2019, resulting in numerous fatalities during the agitation or police intervention.
Since 2020, the Home Ministry has sought extensions at regular intervals from the parliamentary committee for drafting the rules. With the BJP government’s term ending and the model code of conduct soon to be enforced for the general elections, sources underscore the necessity of notifying the rules to prevent the law from lapsing.
Furthermore, it is clarified that the CAA does not revoke the citizenship of any religious group; rather, it enables persecuted individuals from specified religions in neighbouring countries, who have faced hardship over the years, to apply for citizenship.
In January, Union Minister Shantanu Thakur announced during a public rally in West Bengal that the CAA would be implemented nationwide within a week. The promise of implementing the controversial law served as a significant electoral platform for the BJP in previous Lok Sabha and assembly elections in West Bengal, with party leaders believing it contributed significantly to the BJP’s rise in the state.
Despite the government’s intentions, several states like West Bengal and Kerala have reiterated their opposition to the implementation of the law.
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