Binit Gupta,New Delhi
As CAA rules unveiled on Monday, the central government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from three countries.
The Union government on Monday implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 or CAA. It notified CAA rules four years after the law was passed by Parliament in December 2019. Back in 2019, there were protests in several parts of the country against it.
In a tweet, PIB Fact Check said, “Misinformation is being spread by AJ English regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act, calling the act ‘anti-Muslim’. This claim is misleading.” It further said, “CAA will not take away citizenship of any Indian citizen irrespective of religion. It’s not against any single religion/ community It’s an enabling law only to provide citizenship to persecuted minorities from neighboring countries – Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.”
As CAA rules unveiled on Monday, the central government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — from the three countries. The law could not come into effect as rules had not been notified till now.
The government stated that the law would fast-track citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014. However, several people termed CAA as anti-Muslim. Foreign news organization Al Jazeera also termed CAA as anti-Muslim. However, the central government’s nodal agency PIB said the claim on CAA by the news organization is misleading.
The CAA rules are called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024. They will enable the persons eligible under CAA 2019 to apply for a grant of Indian citizenship. The applications will be submitted in a completely online mode for which a web portal has been provided.
