Rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 (CAA) are set to be notified “much before” Lok Sabha elections in India are announced, reported Press Trust of India (PTI) citing an unnamed senior government functionary.
“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, as quoted by PTI.
The act was brought by Narendra Modi government. According to the provisions in the act, persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014 would be granted Indian nationality. The non-Muslim communities in the purview of the law are – Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians.
CAA was passed by the Indian parliament in December 2019 following which it received presidential assent.
Protests had broken out in India over the act.
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In order for the act to be implemented, rules for the same need to be notified. This is something which has been delayed by more than four years.
India’s Union Home Minister Amit Shah had asserted last month that nothing could stop implementation of the CAA since it is the law of the land.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee opposes CAA. Shah has accused her of misleading people.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) believes that CAA and the debate surrounding it helped in boosting party’s profile in multiple elections in West Bengal.
India’s home ministry has been taking regular extensions to notify CAA rules since as per parliamentary rules such an extension from Committees on Subordinate Legislation of both houses needs to be obtained in case rules for a legislation are not formed within six months of presidential assent.
Meanwhile, the government has taken steps towards ultimate implementation of the law. more than 30 district magistrates alongwith home secretaries of nine states have been given powers to grant Indian citizenships to non-Muslim minorities from the three countries.
However, none of the authorities in Assam and West Bengal have been empowered as the issue of CAA is politically sensitive there.
(With inputs from agencies)
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