On Saturday, Amit Shah, the Union home minister, declared that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) would be promulgated and put into effect before the next Lok Sabha election, referring to it as a “act of the country.” Shah emphasized that the act does not want to “take away anyone’s citizenship,” but rather to grant citizenship.
“CAA is a national act…It will receive notice before to the polls. There ought to be no room for doubt about that. Our nation’s minorities, particularly the Muslim minority, are being incited…Since the Act makes no mention of citizenship, CAA cannot take away someone’s citizenship. Speaking at the ET Now-Global Business event in Delhi, Shah stated that the CAA is an act that grants citizenship to refugees who were oppressed in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
Shah went on to accuse the outgoing Congress administration of “backtracking” on its pledge to enact the CAA nationwide.
“CAA was a government promise made to Congress.” Congress promised the refugees that they would be welcomed in India and would be granted Indian citizenship during the time when the country was divided and minorities were being persecuted in foreign countries. As reported by news outlet ANI, he stated, “Now they are backtracking.”
The Citizenship Amendment Act: What is it?
The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) with the intention of granting Indian citizenship to non-Muslim migrants who have been persecuted and who came to India before December 31, 2014, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians.
The Citizenship Act of 1955 was amended by the Act, which was approved by the Parliament on December 11, 2019.