The central government could notify the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) any time before the Model Code of Conduct is implemented ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently asserted that the CAA would be notified before the Lok Sabha elections and reiterated that the Act does not take away anyone’s citizenship as it lacks such provision.
The CAA, enacted by Parliament on December 11, 2019, has been a subject of intense debate and widespread protests across India.
“Our Muslim brothers are being misled and instigated (against the CAA). The CAA is only meant to give citizenship to those who came to India after facing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. It is not for snatching anyone’s Indian citizenship,” Shah said.
He also stated that the CAA was a promise of the Congress government and accused them of backtracking on their assurance to provide Indian citizenship to refugees persecuted in the aforementioned countries.
It is likely that the code of conduct might be implemented anytime in March. The regulations are ready and an online portal for the entire procedure, which will be carried out digitally, is already in place.
Applicants will be required to state the year they entered India without any travel documents and no further documentation will be needed.
“The regulations are prepared, and an online portal is already set up for the entire process, which will be conducted digitally. Applicants will need to disclose the year of their entry into India without any travel documents. No additional documentation will be required from the applicants,” sources said.
The CAA, proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, intends to offer Indian citizenship to oppressed non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who came to India prior to December 31, 2014.
The CAA 2019 aims to amend the Citizenship Amendment Act of 1955 to provide a fast-track pathway to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in their home countries.
The CAA’s implementation sparked protests at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh and protest gatherings in Assam’s Guwahati since its approval by Parliament in December 2019 and subsequent presidential consent.
Over a hundred people have died during these protests or due to police action following the law’s passage. The protests, however, fizzled out during the coronavirus-induced restrictions and lockdowns.
Even after more than four years of being passed in the Parliament, the CAA was not implemented since the rules and processes were yet to be finalised.
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