IUML has approached the Supreme Court against the implementation of the citizenship law
New Delhi:
A day after the Center notified the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, the Indian Muslim League (IUML) today approached the Supreme Court challenging it. The party, whose main headquarters are in Kerala, sought a stay on the law, calling it “unconstitutional” and “discriminatory” against the Muslim community.
The Citizenship Amendment Act passed in 2019 allows non-Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan fleeing religious persecution to seek Indian citizenship. People from the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Zoroastrian or Christian communities from these countries can seek citizenship under the CAA if they enter India on or before December 31, 2014.
IUML was one of the first organizations to challenge the law in 2019. Its petition argued that non-inclusion of Muslims in the citizenship list violated the right to equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.
Earlier, the IUML had sought a stay on the implementation of the Act, but the Center later told the court that the law would not come into effect as the rules have not been notified yet.
The petition said the implementation of CAA rules must be stayed until the Supreme Court rules on 250 pending petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Act. The preamble to the constitution envisages India as a secular state and therefore any law passed must be religiously neutral, the petition said.
The center’s announcement last night sparked celebrations and protests in several parts of the country. Following the announcement, members of the Bengali Matua community and Sindhi refugees living in Bhopal held celebrations. In some other areas, however, the public sentiment is different. Protests have erupted in Assam, which has been protesting against new citizenship rules on the grounds that it will lead to mass migration into the border state. Elsewhere in the country, protesters claimed the law discriminated against the Muslim community.
Opposition parties have targeted the timing of the bill’s implementation by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party: weeks before the Lok Sabha polls.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that the BJP aimed to polarize voters in Assam and West Bengal.
“It took them 4 years and 3 months to come up with this rule. The bill was passed in December 2019. The law was supposed to be formed in 3-6 months. The Modi government sought nine extensions from the Supreme Court and it took 4 years and 3 months before the rules were notified last night,” Mr. Ramesh said in a post on X.
“These are just for polarization – to influence elections in Bengal and Assam. If they are honest, why not raise it in 2020? They are raising it now, a month away from the elections. This is social strategic polarization, ” he added.
