He says PM Modi has fulfilled the promise of the framers of the Constitution (Document)
New Delhi:
The Center on Monday implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, announcing the rules four years after Parliament passed the contentious law aimed at providing benefits to immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India who came to India before December. Afghanistan’s undocumented non-Muslim immigrants to receive fast-track citizenship 31, 2014.
With the rules announced just days before the Lok Sabha elections are announced, the Modi government will now start providing immigration to persecuted non-Muslims — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — —Grant Indian citizenship. Three countries. According to a gazette notification, the rules come into effect immediately.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled another promise made by the framers of the Constitution.
Official sources said that CAA-2019 is a citizenship-conferring law and will not take away the citizenship of any Indian irrespective of his religion, adding that it will only apply to those who have suffered persecution over the years and are not from other countries except India. One who has no other refuge in the outside world.
They said there are many misunderstandings about CAA.
The CAA was approved by parliament in December 2019 and subsequently received presidential assent, but protests broke out in several parts of the country, with many opposition parties speaking out against the law, calling it “discriminatory.” More than 100 people have been killed in anti-CAA protests or police actions.
“These rules will now enable religiously persecuted minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to gain citizenship in our countries.
Minister Shah said on the Christians, Jains, Parsis and Christians.”
The Modi government today announced the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.
These rules will now enable religiously persecuted minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to gain citizenship in our country.
With this notification, PM Shri @narendramodi Ji You…
— Amit Shah (Modi Ka Parivar) (@AmitShah) March 11, 2024
A spokesman for the Home Office said applications will be submitted entirely online and a portal has been made available. The law cannot take effect because the rules have not yet been published.
While the Congress and other opposition parties slammed the government’s move, claiming that the new laws are aimed at polarizing the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityana He called this a historic “humanitarian decision.”
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that the announcement was yet another attempt to “manage headlines” following the Supreme Court’s restraint on the electoral bonds issue on Monday.
“After seeking nine extensions to the rule notification period, the pre-election timing is clearly designed to polarize the elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam,” he said.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinaray Vijayan described the CAA as a law that divides communities and claimed that the law will not be implemented in the southern state.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal claimed that the Centre’s move was against the state and that it was “dirty politics” for the BJP to make poor people in neighboring countries its vote bank in India.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she will strongly oppose the CAA if she finds it discriminates against people living in India and restricts their existing civil rights in any way.
Just minutes before the Center officially notified the CAA rules, Trinamool Congress supremo was talking to reporters, West Bengal’s Matua community celebrated the implementation of the citizenship law at the sect’s headquarters at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district, claiming it was their ” Second Independence Day”.
Originally from East Pakistan, the Matuas were an underprivileged group of Hindus who migrated to India during Partition and after the creation of Bangladesh.
The community, with an estimated population of 3 million, could swing in favor of the party in more than 30 parliamentary seats in Nadia and the 24 Parganas districts to the north and south that border Bangladesh.
Hindu refugees in Pakistan, who have been living a life of uncertainty, welcomed the government’s move.
Some refugees living in Delhi said they were happy and “finally can be called Indian citizens”.
Celebrations also broke out in the Majnu ka Tilla area where they mainly live.
The All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and 30 indigenous organizations burned copies of the CAA in various parts of Assam, including Guwahati, Barpeta, Lakhimpur, Nalbari, Dibrugarh and Ti. Spurs.
The 16-party United Opposition Forum of Assam (UOFA) on Tuesday announced a state-wide strike, along with other agitation plans in phases.
“We will continue our non-violent, peaceful, democratic movement against the CAA. At the same time, we will also continue our legal fight,” AASU advisor Samujjal Bhattacharjya told PTI.
Bhattacharja insisted that the indigenous people of Assam and the Northeast would never accept the CAA.
According to the Parliamentary Work Manual, the rules for any legislation should be formulated within six months of the presidential assent, otherwise the government must seek an extension from the legislative committees under the House of Commons and the House of Federation.
Since 2020, the Interior Department has been regularly seeking extensions from parliament’s rule-making committees.
No documents will be requested from the applicants, an official said.
Security was tightened in Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar and other areas of the national capital as well as in various states where anti-CAA protests had taken place earlier.
According to the notification, applicants for Indian citizenship must have resided continuously in India for at least 12 months before applying.
The rules also provide that the applicant must have resided in India for at least 6 years out of the 8 years preceding the above-mentioned 12 months to be eligible for Indian citizenship.
Applicants must also state that they “irrevocably” renounce their existing citizenship and wish to make “India their permanent home,” the statement said.
They must state that they will not be asked to renounce their citizenship in the future, the statement added.
All approved applicants must take an oath of allegiance affirming that they will have “true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India” as prescribed by law and that they will “faithfully abide by the laws of India” and “discharge” their duties, it said. Is an Indian citizen.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
