The Modi government on Monday evening issued a notification for the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, which comes into effect today weeks before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The CAA was cleared by Parliament in December 2019 amid protests by activists and opposition politicians.
Now that the notification has been issued, the central government can grant citizenship to persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Parsi, Jain, or Christian communities – from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan – who came to India on or before December 31, 2014 to flee from religious persecution.
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.
Implementation of the CAA was a major campaign platform for the BJP before the 2019 election.
Less than a month ago 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.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Tuesday launched a portal to apply for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, as per media reports. The portal’s launch comes a day after the government notified CAA rules.
Spokesperson familiar with the matter said, “The Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 under the CAA-2019 have been notified. A new portal has been launched, persons eligible under CAA-2019 can apply for citizenship on this portal indiancitizenshiponline.nic.in.”
Subsequently, a mobile app ‘CAA-2019’ will be launched to facilitate applications.
Indian Opposition Parties Oppose CAA
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.
“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.
Tamil Nadu CM 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.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said one needs to look at the CAA in association with National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR). “Union Home Minister Amit Shah took my name in the Parliament and said that NRC and NPR will be implemented…it’s on record…Their (BJP) main aim is to implement NPR and NRC in the country…,” Owaisi said.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday charged at the ruling party at the centre and alleged BJP of following the Hindu Mahasabha’s concept of two nation theory by implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir said that BJP is implementing the CAA, even when the matter is pending before the Supreme Court. She called it an attempt to divert attention from the government’s failures.
Global Islamic-Left-Liberal cabal initiates propaganda against CAA
Al Jazeera labelled CAA Notification as ‘Anti-Muslim’. Al Jazeera is a Qatari-state owned news channel. Qatar’s citizenship laws are one of the most stringent in the world.
Voice of America terms CAA as a law that excludes Muslims. It conveniently forgets to mention that this law is about persecuted minorities. Also, VOA is a CIA mouthpiece and has played role in subverting several thriving democracies including Italian election of 1948.
Bloomberg, which has a history of defaming India, called CAA as a ‘Controversial Citizenship Law’. If you remember, it blamed India for the spread of Delta variant of Corona virus.
any list of anti-India narrative cannot be complete without BBC. From ‘Modi documentary’ to Ram Mandir, BBC has been at the forefront. The less said about the biasness of BBC, the better.
Modi Govt slams the opposition of CAA
The government today reiterated that the newly-implemented Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA doesn’t curtail the freedom and opportunity of Indian Muslims amid sharp criticism from the opposition, which terms the move as discriminatory and motivated by the approaching Lok Sabha elections. It also asserted that there is no bar on Muslims from anywhere in the world to seek Indian citizenship.
“Muslims from anywhere in the world can seek Indian citizenship under Section 6 of the Citizenship Act, which deals with citizenship by naturalisation,” the Home Ministry said.
Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar appealed “to everybody, including those in the Muslim community to read the bill”. He said this bill does not prejudice anybody. “This type of taking a bill and trying to use falsehood and misinformation to score some political points is shameful,” he added.
“BJP whenever it commits to something in its manifesto, it has a track record of fulfilling it. It is unfortunate that a bill legislated by Parliament which does not impact anybody today except those being persecuted for religion in three countries -Pakistan, Bangladesh & Afghanistan -is unfortunate that the bill is being made a political football. This is a humanitarian legislation,” Chandrasekhar said.
