The Union Home Ministry (MHA) on Monday notified the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules, days ahead of the expected announcement of the Lok Sabha elections schedule.
The CAA, enacted by the Narendra Modi government in 2019, seeks to grant citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim immigrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.
The MHA has readied a portal for the convenience of the applicants as the entire process will be online. The applicants will have to declare the year when they entered India without travel documents.
"The regulations are prepared, and an online portal is already set up for the entire process, which will be conducted digitally. Applicants will need to disclose the year of their entry into India without any travel documents. No additional documentation will be required from the applicants," said an official.
The country had witnessed large-scale protests after the law got parliament’s nod in 2019 with over a hundred people losing their lives during the agitation and police action.
Government sources earlier told THE WEEK that they expect some protests in states such as Assam, West Bengal and Delhi, but adequate steps have been taken over the last several months to remove any reservations on the issue.
Since 2020, the Home Ministry has been taking extensions at regular intervals from the parliamentary committee for framing the rules.
With the BJP government ending its five-year term and the model code of conduct coming into force soon for the general elections, sources said the rules needed to be notified to prevent the law from getting lapsed.
The sources further clarified that the CAA does not take away the citizenship of any religion or community; rather, it enables the persecuted members of these religions living in neighbouring countries who have suffered over the years to apply for citizenship.
On February 10, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had reiterated that the CAA would be notified and implemented before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
"CAA is an Act of the country, it will be definitely be notified. It will be notified before the polls. CAA will be implemented by the polls, and there should be no confusion around it. CAA was a promise of the Congress government. When the country was divided and the minorities were persecuted in those countries, Congress had assured the refugees that they were welcome in India and they will be provided with Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking," Shah had said.
The promise of implementing the controversial law served as a major electoral platform for the BJP in the previous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in West Bengal, with party leaders believing it played a pivotal role in the BJP's ascent in the state.
Several states like West Bengal and Kerala have reiterated that they won’t allow the implementation of the law.