Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Credit; PTI Photo
New Delhi: It took 1,521 days for the Narendra Modi government, which boasts of being decisive when it comes to governance, to frame rules to enable the implementation of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 after its notification.
The amendments to the citizenship law was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019 and signed by the President the next day. The government took another month to notify it in the gazette on January 10, 2020.
The delay in framing rules was seen in some quarters as the ruling BJP’s gamble to benefit from elections. The issue cropped up during the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections with the BJP promising to implement it but without giving a definite timeline.
The law, which introduced the criteria of religion to seek Indian citizenship, brought a large number of people onto the streets, who protested that it was aimed at discriminating against Muslims in the country and skew the demography of voting citizens in key regions. The government, in response, moved at snail's pace to introduce the law, even though a large number of protestors faced police action.
Almost every three months from mid-2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) sought extensions from the Parliamentary Standing Committees on Subordinate Legislation in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
MHA sources sought to defend the ministry, saying the implementation was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
With just days for the Lok Sabha elections to be held, the Modi government finally notified the rules that allow persecuted religious minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to easily seek citizenship in India. It also came a day before the start of the holy month of Ramzan, with a section claiming that the ruling saffron camp had chosen the date with a purpose.
The Opposition had risen in rebellion against the Bill when it came for passage in Parliament, accusing the government of introducing religion as criteria for citizenship. The upheaval was also reflected in huge protests across the country.
Questions were raised as to why persecuted minorities in China and Myanmar — Muslim in these cases — and in Sri Lanka, with a linguistic minority of Tamils, were not under the ambit of the new law with opponents of the law pointing out the government’s alleged discriminatory attitude.
Congress General Secretary (Communications) Jairam Ramesh said the CAA announcement is yet another attempt to "manage the headlines" after the Supreme Court's strictures on the electoral bonds issue.
"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," he said.
Senior lawyer Sanjay Hegde said it was surprising that the government did not find time earlier to notify the CAA rules.
"The Act has been challenged in the Supreme Court, there has been no specific stay, the matter hasn't been heard for some time. In the meanwhile, the rules have been notified and I am sure that in respect of the implementation of rules, there will be appropriate petitions filed. It is possible that the government wanted to notify these rules before the Model Code of Conduct comes into play," Hegde was quoted by PTI as saying.
The chatter about implementation of CAA started again in December last year when Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that no one can stop the implementation of the CAA as it is the law of the land. He had also said the rules will be notified before the announcement of Lok Sabha elections.
According to the report of the Joint Committee of Parliament that vetted a previous version of the Bill, there were 31,313 people belonging to minority communities from these countries who will be the "immediate beneficiaries". These individuals had been given Long Term Visas on the basis of their claim of religious persecution in their respective countries and their request for Indian citizenship.
Among 31,313 beneficiaries, the Intelligence Bureau told the panel that there are 25,447 Hindus, 5,807 Sikhs, 55 Christians, two Buddhists and two Parsis.
For citizenship, the IB said, they will have to prove that they came to India due to religious persecution. "If they had not declared so at the time of arrival in India, it would be difficult for them to make such a claim now. Any future claim will be enquired into, including through RAW before a decision is taken," the IB had told the panel.