More than four years after the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) 2019 was enacted, the Centre on Monday notified rules for granting Indian citizenships to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians who migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to India to skip religious persecution in their respective countries.

Also read: CAA rules likely to be notified today

The Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, will enable persons eligible under the CAA to submit their individual applications in a completely online mode to an Empowered Committee through a District Level Committee as may be notified by the Central Government, the Ministry of Home Affairs said on Monday.

For this, a web portal has been provided to get citizenship, the MHA informed. Only those migrants who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in their home countries are entitled to seek citizenship, the CAA outlined.

The applicants will have to declare the year they entered into India and no travel document will be sought from them as a proof to substantiate their claims, said an official. Except that they would be required to provide an affidavit verifying correctness of statements made in applications along with an affidavit from an Indian citizen testifying the character of the applicant, read the rules.

Also, a declaration from the applicant would be sought stating that he has adequate knowledge of one the languages specified in the Eighth Schedule of Constitution. The rules made it clear that after getting Indian citizenship, the applicants will have to renounce citizenships of the countries they belonged to.

Earlier, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had stated multiple times that the CAA will be implemented ahead of Lok Sabha poll schedule announcement. The buzz is that the government is likely to announce General Election dates after selection of two Election Commissioners when Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led panel selects them in a meeting expected to take place either on March 14 or March 15.

One of the two Election Commissioners, Arun Goel, resigned towards the weekend while the other one, Anup Chandra Pandey, had retired in February leaving two vacancies in the three-member Election Commission of India

The CAA’s passage from both the Houses of parliament in December 2019 saw large scale violent protests against the legislation in several parts of the country, leading to over a hundred deaths.

Since then rules could not be notified. The MHA, since 2020, had sought several extensions from a parliamentary committee for framing the rules since it’s mandatory to frame rules for any passed legislation within 6 months of President giving assent to it.

Owing to apprehensions that the rules notification might lead to law and order situation, Delhi and other States were put on alert to ensure peace.

Opposition slams Centre

The notification of CAA rules drew criticism from the Opposition. Congress questioned the timing of the notification and charged that it has been done to polarise the elections. “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 posted on X.

“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,” the Congress leader added in his post.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee described the move as another publicity stunt of the BJP. “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,” Banerjee said.

Also read: CAA final draft expected by March 2024, says Union Minister Ajay Mishra

To allay fears of the minority community here, Amit Shah had earlier stated that the CAA, which was a promise of the previous Congress regime, is meant to give citizenship and not take it away. “Minorities in our country, and specially our Muslim community, are being provoked. CAA cannot snatch away anyone’s citizenship because there is no provision in the Act. CAA is an act to provide citizenship to refugees who were persecuted in Bangladesh and Pakistan,” he had earlier stated.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW