Citizenship Amendment Act Rules To Be Notified Before Lok Sabha Polls

The announcement of rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 is expected to take place much before the Lok Sabha elections, as stated by a senior government official. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, introduced by the Narendra Modi government, focuses on granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

There were massive protests in some parts of the country after the CAA was passed by Parliament in December 2019 and received the presidential assent subsequently. We are going to issue the rules for the CAA soon. Once the rules are issued, the law can be implemented and those eligible can be granted Indian citizenship, the functionary said.

Delayed by more than four years, rules for the CAA are a must for its implementation. Asked whether the rules will be notified before the announcement of the next Lok Sabha elections that are likely to be held in April-May, the functionary said, Yes, much before that. The rules are ready and the online portal is also in place and the entire process will be online. The applicants will have to declare the year when they entered India without travel documents. No document will be sought from the applicants, the functionary said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on December 27, emphasized that the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) cannot be halted, asserting it as the law of the land. He accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misguiding the public on the matter. Shah made these remarks during a party meeting in Kolkata, reiterating the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) commitment to enforcing the CAA. In contrast, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Mamata Banerjee, has consistently opposed the CAA.

In the past two years, the authority to grant Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians arriving from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan has been delegated to more than 30 district magistrates and home secretaries across nine states. This power shift is in accordance with the Citizenship Act of 1955.

As per the annual report of the Ministry of Home Affairs for the fiscal year 2021-22, covering the period from April 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021, a total of 1,414 individuals from these non-Muslim minority communities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan were conferred Indian citizenship through registration or naturalization under the Citizenship Act, 1955.