The government on Monday evening issued a notification for the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, which is set to be implemented just weeks before the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
The CAA – which makes religion, for the first time, a test of Indian citizenship, and sparked fears it could be used to target religious minorities – was cleared by Parliament in December 2019 amid violent protests nationwide, in which over 100 people died, and fierce resistance from activists and opposition politicians.
Now that the notification has been issued, the central government can grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants – from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan – who came to India before December 31, 2014.
A spokesperson for the Home Ministry said eligible individuals could submit applications in “a completely online mode”. No other documentation will be sought from the applicants, one official said.
The applications will be submitted in a completely online mode for which a web portal has been provided. (2/2)@HMOIndia@PIB_India@DDNewslive@airnewsalerts
— Spokesperson, Ministry of Home Affairs (@PIBHomeAffairs) March 11, 2024
Implementation of the CAA was a major campaign platform for the BJP before the 2019 election.
And this notification comes less than a month after Home Minister Amit Shah called the CAA “an act of the country” and said, “it will definitely be notified. CAA will come into effect before the election…”
The Home Minister – who led the government’s charge on this topic in both houses of Parliament – also played down fears the CAA, and the NRC, or National Register of Citizens, will be used to target Muslims.
He accused Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee – who has long been one of the CAA’s fiercest and most vocal critics – of deliberately misleading the people of her state on this topic. Bengal – with 42 Lok Sabha seats – is shaping to be a key battleground for the BJP as it bids to reach its target of 370.
Meanwhile, Ms Banerjee hit out almost immediately, telling reporters at a hastily-convened press conference that her government would steadfastly oppose “anything that discriminates (against) people”.
“If there is any discrimination, we won’t accept it. Be it religion, caste, or linguistic. They won’t be able to give citizenship to anyone in two days. This is just lollipop and show-off,” she declared.
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“After multiple extensions in four years, its implementation two to three days before the election announcement shows that it is being done for political reasons,” she slammed the BJP.
The Trinamool boss also pointed out the CAA, the NRC, and the NPR, or National Population Register, were sensitive topics in Bengal and the northeast, and that she does not want unrest before the election.
Significantly, parts of the northeast have been exempted from the CAA.
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She also accused the BJP of raking up the CAA issue with an eye on votes. “With elections approaching, BJP has again raked up CAA to reap political benefits. But as long as I am alive, I will not allow it…”.
In the northeast – which saw violent clashes between anti-CAA protesters and the police – the Assam Students Union, which led protests in the state four years ago, has sounded the call for another agitation.
Ms Banerjee isn’t the only opposition politician to fight against the CAA.
The Bengal leader’s Tamil Nadu counterpart, MK Stalin, was similarly emphatic. Accusing the BJP government of going “against communal harmony”, the DMK boss too vowed he would not implement the law.
Other states – like Kerala and Punjab – and others then ruled by the Congress (and now by the BJP) – such as Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh – also opposed the CAA and passed resolutions. In fact, the Bengal and Kerala governments also stopped all NPR, or National Population Register, and NRC work.
In Telangana, the then-ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi of ex-Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao also passed resolutions against all three and urged the government to “remove all references to any religion, or to any foreign country” in view of fears expressed by lakhs across the country.
The Madhya Pradesh government – then also ruled by the Congress – also passed a resolution, and, significantly, several BJP leaders and lawmakers from the state also criticised the law.
The government has said the Citizenship Amendment Act will help minorities from Muslim-dominated countries get citizenship if they fled due to religious persecution. However, critics say it is designed to discriminate against Muslims and violates secular principles of the Constitution.
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