Modi government announced the notification of the rules to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), on Monday. CAA was enacted in December 2019 but remains unimplemented due to protests in several parts of the country against it.
Amit Shah announces Implementation of CAA
Union Minister Amit Shah wrote on platform X, “The Modi government today notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024. These rules will now enable minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to acquire citizenship in our nation. With this notification PM Narendra Modi Ji has delivered on another commitment and realized the promise of the makers of our constitution to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians living in those countries.”
What is CAA?
Citizen Amendment Act or CAA (2019), enabled minorities (Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christians) persecuted on religious grounds before December 31st, 2014, from Muslim-majority countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to acquire citizenship in India. However, the act excludes Muslims from the list of eligible migrants.
As per the announcement, the Modi government will now start granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from three countries.
Protest against CAA in 2019
Soon after the enactment of the law in 2019, widespread protests broke out across the country. The law remained unimplemented despite being passed in Parliament four years ago, and the government sought repeated extensions for framing the rules.
The main reason that fueled the protest was the exclusion of Muslims from the migrants list. The protests emerged in various regions, including Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, Guwahati, and Assam, and led to the loss of over 100 lives.
Modi Government’s Announcement just before General Elections
The government’s announcement of the implementation of CAA comes ahead of the announcement of the dates of the Lok Sabha elections by the Election Commission of India. The announcement was also made on the same day the Supreme Court ordered the State Bank of India (SBI) to reveal details of Electoral bonds, for which SBI was seeking an extension till June 31st.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “After seeking nine extensions for notification of the rules the timing right before the elections is evidently designed to polarize the elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam.”
CAA was an essential part of BJP’s manifesto for the 2019 General elections. The act was passed in the Parliament on December 1st, 2019, after Narendra Modi came to power, and has been a part of discussion, opposition, and protests.
Opposition from the Muslim Community (2024)
Protest by Student groups
After the announcement by Amit Shah, protests were staged by various student bodies, including the All Assam Student Union (AASU) in Assam and the Muslim Students Federation (MSF) at Jamia Milia Islamia.
In Assam, AASU burned a copy replica of CAA in Guwahati and other parts of the state, as a part of a protest against the Modi government’s decision. In Delhi, at Jamia Milia Islamia, MSF shouted the slogan against the Modi government and Delhi Police.
Muslim body files plea seeking stay on implementation of CAA
Indian Union Muslim League filed a plea in the Supreme Court on Tuesday, seeking a stay on the newly implemented CAA rule (2024). It argues that the Act could lead to the establishment of significant rights that grant citizenship only to individuals of certain religions and exclude Muslims.
