New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government notified implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) — weeks before the Lok Sabha elections. The contentious Act has faced numerous delays and continued criticism from the Opposition ranks. More than 100 people have lost their lives to protests and consequent police action since it was passed in December 2019.
The CAA rules aim to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants – including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians – who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before 2014. Applications have to be submitted online through a newly formed portal with citizenship hopefuls declaring the year in which they entered India without travel documents.
Home Minister Amit Shah had recently indicated that the CAA will be issued ahead of Lok Sabha polls and enforced accordingly. The senior politician also reiterated the BJP-led government’s commitment towards the issue during a rally in West Bengal and accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading people.
“CAA will be implemented by the polls, and there should be no confusion around it. CAA was a promise of the Congress government. When the country was divided and the minorities were persecuted in those countries, Congress assured the refugees that they were welcome in India and that they will be provided with Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking,” Shah had said.
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CAA won’t be implemented in Tamil Nadu: CM Stalin
Calling the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) ‘a law that is completely unwarranted,’ Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin asserted that the contentious citizenship law shall not be implemented in the southern state.
“There is not going to be any use or benefits due to the CAA, which only paves the way for creating divisions among the Indian people. The stand of the (state) government is that this law is completely unwarranted; it is one that must be repealed,” Stalin said in a press release.
The chief minister, who also heads the state’s ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), further stated: “Tamil Nadu government will not give any opportunity in any manner to implement the CAA, which is also against pluralism, secularism, minority communities, and the Sri Lankan Tamil refugees.” He also questioned the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for notifying CAA rules ‘in a haste,’ on the eve of Lok Sabha polls, which are likely to take place in April-May.
