The Indian Central Government has taken a significant step on Monday by implementing the long-debated Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), five years after its passage in Parliament. This development comes just ahead of the impending announcement of dates for the Lok Sabha elections by the Election Commission of India.
Applications for citizenship under the CAA will now be accepted through an online portal, streamlining the process for eligible migrants. Last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had affirmed that the implementation of the CAA would precede the Lok Sabha elections this year, following the issuance of relevant rules.
Enacted by Parliament on December 11, 2019, the CAA has been a focal point of intense debate and widespread protests across India. The legislation seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955, offering an expedited pathway to Indian citizenship for migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan belonging to certain religious communities, namely Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Buddhist, and Christian, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in their home countries.
Previous protests, notably at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh and in Guwahati, Assam, gradually waned during the Covid-induced restrictions and lockdowns.
In response to the government’s notification, the Delhi Police has heightened security measures in and around the Shaheen Bagh area, which served as the epicenter of anti-CAA protests previously.
Meanwhile, the Congress party has raised questions regarding the timing of the government’s notification, alleging a deliberate move to “polarize 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,” remarked Congress’s Communications In-charge Jairam Ramesh in a statement.
The timing of the notification, just before the elections, is viewed by the Congress as an attempt to influence voters, particularly in West Bengal and Assam, and divert attention following recent Supreme Court scrutiny over the Electoral Bonds Scandal.
