CENTRE PRESSES CAA BUTTON : Vijayan denounces, says it will not be implemented in Kerala

 Will oppose if it discriminates people: Mamata   : Ramesh questions timing of announcement

PTI, NEW DELHI, Mar 11: Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Centre on Monday announced the implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 for granting citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

With the CAA rules being issued, the Modi Government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — from the three countries.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently got the President’s assent but there were protests in several parts of the country against it. The law could not come into effect as rules had not been notified till now.

“These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for the grant of Indian citizenship,” a Home Ministry spokesperson said.

“The applications will be submitted in a completely online mode for which a web portal has been provided,” the spokesperson added.

According to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, the rules for any legislation should be framed within six months of Presidential assent or the Government has to seek an extension from the Committees on Subordinate Legislation in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Since 2020, the Home Ministry has been taking extensions at regular intervals from the parliamentary committee for framing the rules.

No document will be sought from the applicants, an official said.

Over 100 people lost their lives during the anti-CAA protests or police action.

On December 27, 2023, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that no one can stop the implementation of the CAA as it is the law of the land and accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading people on the issue.

Addressing a party meeting in Kolkata, Shah said it is the BJP’s commitment to implement the CAA.

The TMC, led by Mamata Banerjee, has been opposing the CAA since the beginning.

The promise of implementing the controversial CAA was a major poll plank of the BJP in the last Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in West Bengal.

The saffron party’s leaders consider it a plausible factor that led to the rise of the BJP in Bengal.

In the last two years, over 30 District Magistrates and Home Secretaries in nine States have been given powers to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

According to the annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs for 2021-22, from April 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021, a total of 1,414 foreigners belonging to these non-Muslim minority communities from the three countries were given Indian citizenship by registration or naturalisation under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The nine States where Indian citizenship by registration or naturalisation is given under the Citizenship Act, 1955 to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra.

Authorities of none of the districts of Assam and West Bengal, where the issue is politically very sensitive, have been given the powers so far.

Reacting to the indications that announcement regarding implementation of CAA was  likely  today,  Mamata  said  she  would fiercely oppose the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) if she found it to be discriminatory against groups of people living in India and if it curtailed their existing citizenship rights in any manner. 

Speaking at a hurriedly convened press conference from the state secretariat, Nabanna, barely minutes before the CAA rules were officially notified by the Centre, Mamata said this was her "primary response" based on media reports that the announcement was likely to be made soon. 

The Chief Minister stated she would offer her detailed opinion on CAA  on  Tuesday  after  thoroughly  going through the notification and the finalised rules. 

She asked: "Why do this only days before the LokSabha   polls   are   scheduled   to   be announced? Why did the Centre have to wait for four years to notify the law after it was passed in Parliament? The Centre should have  published  the  notification  "before leaking it to the press... Why wait for the sundown? This, after all, is not freedom at midnight", Mamata stated. 

Stating that people living in India already enjoyed guaranteed rights to education, property ownership and electing public representatives, the TMC supremo said she apprehended that the CAA could be used as a possible precursor to implementing NRC across the nation. 

"We will oppose NRC implementation at all costs. I am only worried as to whether the new CAA rules would make the previous entitlements of  our citizens invalid. Will the documents they   hold   lose   value   now?"   Mamata questioned. 

"I ask what was the tearing hurry to rethink citizenship when elections are knocking  on  the  door,"  the  Trinamool Congress supremo added. 

Banerjee said her concerns stemmed from the fact that the previous law (NRC) aimed at "nullifying the existing rights of citizens. I consider this to bean attempt to hoodwink and deceive the people". 

Calling the Centre's move a "showoff" and akin to "offering a lollypop to a kid", Mamata questioned the effective use of the possible online portal through which CAA applications could be made. "Will the system work?" the Chief Minister asked. 

She said that  the  alleged  attempts  to  cancel  the Aadhaar    cards    of    Matua    and    other Namasudra community members in West Bengal were a "ploy" to lend credence to the CAA notification. 

The Congress alleged that the timing of notifying the rules is evidently designed to polarise the coming LokSabha elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh also alleged that the announcement is  yet  another  attempt  to  "manage  the headlines"   after   the   Supreme   Court's strictures on the electoral bonds issue. 

"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," the Congress leader said. 

Kerala Chief  Minister Pinarayi Vijayanon Monday described the Citizenship Amendment Act(CAA) as a law that creates division along communal lines and affirmed that it will not be put into effect in the southern state. 

"The government has repeatedly stated that the Citizenship Amendment Act, which treats Muslim minorities as second-class citizens, will not be implemented in Kerala. That remains the position. All of Kerala will stand united in opposing this communally divisive law," Vijayan said in a statement here.