Days ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha election schedule, the Union home ministry notified the rules for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) on Monday.
On several occasions previously, the home minister Amit Shah had said that the CAA rules would be notified ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to be held in April-May clearing the path for its implementation.
The CAA rules aim to award 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 December 31, 2014.
An agenda for the BJP ahead of the 2019 general elections, the CAA was introduced by the Narendra Modi government and passed by the Parliament in 2019.
After the CAA was passed by Parliament in December 2019 and received approval from the President, there were widespread protests in different regions of the country.
According to an official, the implementation of the CAA law can be initiated by issuing a notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs, which would enable eligible individuals to acquire Indian citizenship.
The formulation of the associated rules is necessary due to the delayed implementation of the CAA, which has been postponed for more than four years.
"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," stated the official.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah stated on December 27 that the execution of the CAA cannot be stopped since it is a valid law. Additionally, he accused Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, of providing false information to the public on this issue.
In a party gathering held in Kolkata, Shah reiterated the BJP's dedication to enforcing the CAA. Meanwhile, the TMC, under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, has been expressing their opposition towards the CAA.
The BJP placed great importance on implementing the highly controversial CAA during the previous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in West Bengal.
The ruling party's leaders at the national level see it as a reliable factor that is helping the BJP gain power in the state.
According to the parliamentary procedures manual, the rules for any law should have been created within six months of getting the president's approval. Alternatively, the government should have requested more time from the Committees on Subordinate Legislation in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has consistently requested extensions from parliamentary committees since 2020 in order to continue developing the regulations linked to the legislation.
More than a hundred people lost their lives either during the protests or as a result of police actions after the law was passed in Parliament. In the past two years, over 30 district magistrates and home secretaries in nine states have been given the authority to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who come from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan under the Citizenship Act of 1955. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs' annual report for 2021-22, from April 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021, a total of 1,414 individuals from non-Muslim minority communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan were granted Indian citizenship through registration or naturalization under the Citizenship Act of 1955.
According to the Citizenship Act of 1955, individuals from non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan can obtain Indian citizenship through registration or naturalization in nine states including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Maharashtra. It is important to note that the authorities in Assam and West Bengal, which are politically sensitive regions regarding this issue, do not currently have the power to grant citizenship in these cases.
