Union Home Minister Amit Shah reaffirmed on Saturday that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be notified and put into effect before the upcoming Lok Sabha election, underscoring it as an “act of the country” aimed at providing citizenship.
Addressing the ET Now-Global Business summit in Delhi, Shah emphasized that the CAA is designed to offer citizenship and not to revoke anyone’s citizenship rights. He dismissed any confusion surrounding the act, stating that minorities in India, particularly the Muslim community, are being misled.
“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 asserted.
The implementation of the CAA has been a pivotal electoral agenda for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the Lok Sabha elections. Shah criticized the previous Congress government for reneging on its promise to enact the CAA, highlighting it as a commitment made to refugees during the partition.
“The 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 will be provided with Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking,” Shah remarked.
The Citizenship Amendment Act, enacted by the Narendra Modi-led government, seeks to grant Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants who fled Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan due to religious persecution or fear thereof. However, the Act excludes Muslims and other communities who sought refuge from similar or neighboring regions, sparking widespread protests across the nation.
Initially sparking demonstrations in Assam on December 4, 2019, the protests intensified following the passage of the Act on December 11, 2019. Protesters denounced the CAA as discriminatory and an affront to India’s secular ethos. Amidst the protests, reports emerged of casualties resulting from both the demonstrations and police interventions, underscoring the contentious nature of the legislation.
