Citizenship Amendment Act: The Citizenship Amendment Act would take into effect on Monday, March 11, the Indian government stated. However, the opposition quickly attacked the government for the move and connected it to the impending April–May Lok Sabha elections. Samajwadi Party and Shiv Sena (UBT) claim that the CAA’s implementation is motivated by “elections.”
BJP Accused of Election Polarization
On social media, Congressman Jairam Ramesh described the declaration as the BJP’s latest attempt to polarise the elections, particularly in West Bengal and Assam.
“It has taken four years and three months for the Modi Government to notify the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act that was passed by the Parliament in December 2019. The Prime Minister claims that his Government works in a business-like and time-bound manner. The time taken to notify the rules for the CAA is yet another demonstration of the Prime Minister’s blatant lies,” he wrote.
“After seeking nine extensions for the notification of the rules, the timing right before the elections is evidently designed to polarise the elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam. It also appears to be an attempt to manage the headlines after the Supreme Court’s severe strictures on the Electoral Bonds Scandal,” he added.
CAA Announcement Timing and Delay Scrutinized
Digvijaya Singh, a congressman, questioned why the administration was making the announcement of the decision now, ten years later. “Why did they delay it so much, and if they are implementing it, why not after the elections? Their sole objective is to make every issue a Hindu-Muslim issue. This goes against our Constitution,” he said while talking to reporters. In response to the news, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan stated that the goal was to “disquiet the nation.”
“The Central Government’s notification of the Rules to the Citizenship Amendment Act in the wake of the elections is aimed at disquieting the nation. The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued the notification regarding the CAA, just ahead of the announcement of the elections to the Lok Sabha. This is to divide the people, incite communal sentiments and undermine the fundamental principles of the Constitution. This move to stratify Indian citizens who have equal rights, must be opposed unitedly,” he wrote in a post on X.
Kejriwal Criticizes CAA Timing
Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, stated that the people would respond to the center’s move to notify the CAA in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections because it is against national policy.
“After ruling the country for ten years, Modi government has brought CAA before the elections. At a time when the poor and middle class are groaning due to inflation and unemployed youth are struggling from door to door for employment, instead of solving those real issues, these people have brought CAA,” the Delhi CM wrote in a post on X.
“This is strongly opposed especially by the people of Assam and the entire North-East India, who have been victims of migration from Bangladesh and whose language and culture are in danger today. BJP has betrayed the people of Assam and the entire North Eastern states,” he added.
Citizenship Shouldn’t Discriminate Based on Religion or Nationality
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said, “give asylum to anyone who is persecuted but citizenship must not be based on religion or nationality. The govt should explain why it kept these rules pending for five years & why it’s implementing it now. Along with NPR-NRC, CAA is meant to only target Muslims, it serves no other purpose.”
Samajwadi Party Leader Condemns BJP’s CAA Notification as a Distraction
Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, blasted the BJP for issuing the CAA notification, calling it a “game of distraction.” Following the news, security was stepped up nationwide and in Delhi, the nation’s capital. Undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan will find it easier to get citizenship thanks to the regulations governing the execution of this citizenship act.
