Sources said the CAA will help remove “legal barriers to citizenship”. (representative)

New Delhi:

The government on Monday implemented the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), four years after the controversial law was passed. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 seeks to grant Indian citizenship to refugees seeking asylum in India before December 31, 2014 due to religious persecution in three neighboring countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The government has now set out the “key issues” that implementing the CAA might be able to address.

Government sources explained that the CAA would help remove “legal barriers to rehabilitation and access to citizenship” and “provide a dignified life for refugees who have suffered for decades”.

They claimed that civil rights would protect the cultural, linguistic and social identities of refugees while ensuring economic, commercial, free movement and property purchasing rights.

Amid sharp criticism from the opposition, the Center made it clear that the CAA “will not take away the citizenship of any Indian citizen irrespective of his religion”.

“This bill is only applicable to those who have suffered persecution for years and have no other refuge in the world except India,” they said.

The Congress and other opposition parties slammed the move, claiming that the new laws, which were implemented days before the election schedule was announced, were aimed at polarizing the Lok Sabha polls, especially in West Bengal and Assam.

The Indian constitution gives the government the right to provide citizenship on humanitarian grounds to refugees facing religious persecution in their country.

The government also clarified that the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party said in its 2019 manifesto that it was committed to enacting the Citizenship Amendment Act to protect persecuted religious minorities in neighboring countries.