India implements controversial Citizenship Amendment Act

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – Weeks ahead of the country's general elections, India on Monday announced the implementation of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed in 2019.

The Home Affairs Ministry “will be notifying today, the Rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA-2019),” a spokesperson for the ministry wrote on X.

“These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for grant of Indian citizenship.”

It added that the “applications will be submitted in a completely online mode for which a web portal has been provided.”

The CAA was an integral part of the right-wing Hindu ruling Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 2019 general election manifesto, and “this will pave the way for the persecuted to find citizenship in India,” public broadcaster Doordarshan said on Monday evening.

The amended act grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsi or Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but excludes Muslims.

In 2019, when the act was passed, India witnessed widespread protests in many states. After countrywide protests, the matter reached the country’s Supreme Court.

Even though the court did not halt the amended act's implementation, petitions challenging the law are still pending before the Supreme Court, known constitutional lawyer M R Shamshad told Anadolu.

However, opposition leader and chief minister of the eastern state of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, linked the CAA implementation to the ruling party's "publicity for elections."

“If people are deprived of their rights under the rules, then we will fight against it. This is BJP's publicity for elections, it is nothing else," she explained.

The BJP on Monday evening called it a “watershed moment in the history of India.”

“Heartfelt thanks for making CAA a reality!” the party wrote on X.

The implementation of the CAA, which was a major campaign issue for the ruling BJP in the 2019 general election, has been announced weeks before India votes in the general election, in which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party seeks a third consecutive term.

Before the general election, the ruling party fulfilled several promises made in the 2019 manifesto.

The Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, ruled by Modi's party, passed a bill last month establishing a Uniform Civil Code -- a common set of personal laws for all, regardless of religious beliefs.

​​​​In January, Modi inaugurated the grand Ram temple, which was built on the site of the demolished 16th-century Babri Mosque in the northern Indian city of Ayodhya.