Central government implements Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)

New Delhi: The ministry of home affairs has notified the Citizenship Amendment Act’s (CAA) rules today, paving the way for the law’s implementation across the country. The law makes it easier for Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian and Parsi refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, to get Indian citizenship.

“Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will be notifying today, the Rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA-2019). These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for grant of Indian citizenship. The applications will be submitted in a completely online mode for which a web portal has been provided,” the official X handle said.

The law aims to give citizenship to non-Muslim migrants from these countries, who came to India before December 31, 2014.

This comes weeks after union home minister Amit Shah declared that the law would be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections.

After the law was enacted in 2019, protests had broken out in several parts of the country.

Last month, Amit Shah said that no one can stop the CAA law.

“This will be implemented before the elections…this is the law of the country, no one can stop it, this is set in stone, this is the reality,” he had said at an event.

Amit Shah had also said that the CAA was an act of the country. He assured the minorities that the law will not snatch away anyone’s citizenship.

“The CAA is an act of the country…It will be notified before the polls. There should be no confusion around it. Minorities in our country, and especially our Muslim community, are being provoked…The CAA cannot snatch away anyone’s citizenship because there is no provision in the Act. The CAA is an act to provide citizenship to refugees who were persecuted in Bangladesh and Pakistan,” Shah said, while speaking at the ET Now-Global Business summit in Delhi in February.

“CAA was a promise of the Congress government. When the country was divided and the minorities were persecuted in those countries, Congress had assured the refugees that they were welcome in India and they would be provided with Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking,” he added.

Meanwhile, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that her government will not allow the implementation of CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) or NRC (National Register of Citizens) in the state.”We will not allow CAA, nor NRC, nor the politics of dividing Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, nor the false politics of dividing the Matua community, nor the false politics of dividing Hindus and Muslims. We do not accept this. They sent over 400 teams to Bengal. How many teams did you send to Manipur, where our sisters were burned?” she said.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday praised the decision to enact the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. He thanked Amit Shah and PM Modi for helping the minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan.

“The decision to enact the Citizenship (Amendment) Act for the welfare of suffering humanity is historic. This has paved the way for a respectable life for the minority communities suffering from religious brutality in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan,” he said.

Rajasthan CM Bhajanlal Sharma said: “There was a demand for a long time. I want to thank PM Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah for providing assistance to our brothers who have come from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan…They will now get citizenship”.

West Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar took a jibe at chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

“Union Home Minister Amit Shah had already said that we will put forward the rules and regulation of CAA before the Lok Sabha and we will do whatever we say. No one has a problem with it but our CM Mamata Banerjee is not able to sleep,” he said.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, meanwhile, questioned the government’s delay in implementing the rules.