Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced on Saturday that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be notified and implemented before the 2019 Lok Sabha election, describing it as a “national act.” Shah emphasized that the act is intended to offer citizenship rather than “take away anyone’s citizenship”.
“The CAA is a national act. It will be notified before the elections. There should be no mistake about this. Minorities in our country, particularly the Muslim minority, are being provoked. The CAA cannot revoke anyone’s citizenship because the Act makes no provision for it. The CAA is a legislation to offer citizenship to refugees who have been persecuted in Bangladesh and Pakistan,” Shah stated.
CAA Becoming Electoral Agenda
The promise of implementing the CAA, which was passed in Parliament on December 11, 2019, was a key campaign strategy for the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections. Shah also accused the former Congress administration of “backtracking” on its vow to implement the CAA across the country.
“The CAA was a promise made by the Congress administration. When the nation was partitioned and minorities were oppressed in foreign countries, Congress guaranteed refugees that they were welcome in India and would be granted Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking,” Shah said.
What is the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA)?
The Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA was proposed by the administration led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Act aimed to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who entered India from Bangladesh, Pakistan, or Afghanistan due to “religious persecution or fear of religious persecution” before December 31, 2014. However, it excludes Muslims and other minorities that left the same or neighboring territories. This sparked widespread protests throughout the country.
Protests Sparked by CAA
Protests in Assam erupted on December 4, 2019, following the introduction of the CAA in Parliament. Demonstrations raged around the country following the Act’s approval on December 11, 2019, with some places experiencing violence. The demonstrators described the CAA as “discriminatory” and an “attack on India’s secularism.” According to accounts, many individuals were killed during the protests or as a result of the police force, and thousands more protestors were detained.
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