NEW DELHI: After four years of abeyance, the central government on Monday announced the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which will fast-track citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
The Act seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis entering India on or before December 31, 2014.
Indian citizenship will also be granted to the immigrant who has been living in India for at least five of the last 14 years or has lived in the country for the past one year.
Under the act, for the specified class of illegal migrants, the government has relaxed the number of years of residency to five years, which marks a significant reduction from the previous requirement of 11 years for citizenship by naturalization.
CAA Rules
After the government made the announcement, the reactions started to pour in from the opposition leaders, who accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre of resorting to ‘deviation’ and ‘publicity’ ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
‘BJP’s publicity for elections,’ says Mamata Banerjee
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who has opposed the CAA tooth and nail, has said that he would fight against the rules if it “deprives” people of their rights.
“Let me see the rules first. The notification has not been issued yet. If people are deprived of their rights under the rules, then we will fight against it. This is BJP’s publicity for elections, it is nothing else,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee said at a press conference in Kolkata.
‘Will not implement in Kerala’, says CM Vijayan
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday described the CAA as a law that creates division along communal lines and affirmed that it will not be put into effect in the southern state.
“The government has repeatedly stated that the Citizenship Amendment Act, which treats Muslim minorities as second-class citizens, will not be implemented in Kerala. That remains the position. All of Kerala will stand united in opposing this communally divisive law,” Vijayan said in a statement.
Congress links notification timing to polarization
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that the time taken by the government to notify the rules for the CAA is “another demonstration of the Prime Minister’s blatant lies”.
“It has taken four years and three months for the Modi Government to notify the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act that was passed by the Parliament in December 2019. The Prime Minister claims that his Government works in a business-like and time-bound manner. The time taken to notify the rules for the CAA is yet another demonstration of the Prime Minister’s blatant lies,” Jairam Ramesh said.
“After seeking nine extensions for the notification of the rules, the timing right before the elections is evidently designed to polarise the elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam.
It also appears to be an attempt to manage the headlines after the Supreme Court’s severe strictures on the Electoral Bonds Scandal,” he added.
‘Game of distraction,’ says Akhilesh Yadav
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav has called the implementation of CAA rules BJPs’ game of distraction. He also said that the government at the Centre should also explain why lakhs of citizens gave up their citizenship of the country during their 10-year rule.
“When the citizens of the country are forced to go out for livelihood, then what will happen by bringing ‘citizenship law’ for others? The public has now understood the BJP’s game of politics of distraction,” Yadav said in a post on X.
“The BJP government should explain why lakhs of citizens gave up their citizenship of the country during their 10 years of rule. No matter what happens tomorrow you have to give an account of ‘Electoral Bond’ and then also of the ‘care fund’,” Yadav added.
‘CAA meant to only target Muslims’, says Asaduddin Owaisi
AIMIM chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi said “CAA is divisive and based on Godse’s thought that it wanted to reduce Muslims to second-class citizens”.
“Aap chronology samajhiye, pehle election season aayega, phir CAA rules aayenge. Our objections to CAA remain the same. CAA is divisive and based on Godse’s thought that it wanted to reduce Muslims to second-class citizens. Give asylum to anyone who is persecuted but citizenship must not be based on religion or nationality,” Asaduddin Owaisi posted on X.