The opposition parties on Monday questioned the timing of notifying the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), alleging that the move was designed to polarise the coming Lok Sabha elections.
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.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said it has taken four years and three months for the Narendra Modi government to notify the rules for the law cleared by Parliament in December 2019.
"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.
"The prime minister claims that his government works in a business-like and time-bound manner. The time taken to notify the rules for the CAA is yet another demonstration of the prime minister's blatant lies," Ramesh further said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a staunch critic of the law, said she would fiercely oppose the CAA if it was found to be discriminatory against groups of people living in India and if it curtailed their existing citizenship rights in any manner.
“Why do this only days before the Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be announced? Why did the Centre have to wait for four years to notify the law after it was passed in Parliament?,” Banerjee asked.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the move as BJP’s game of distraction.
"When the citizens of the country are forced to go out for livelihood, then what will happen by bringing 'citizenship law' for others? The public has now understood the BJP's game of politics of distraction," Yadav said in a post on X.
"The BJP government should explain why lakhs of citizens gave up their citizenship of the country during their 10 years of rule. No matter what happens tomorrow you have to give account of Electoral Bond' and then also of the 'care fund'," he added.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reiterated that his government will not implement the citizenship law.
"The government has repeatedly stated that the Citizenship Amendment Act, which treats Muslim minorities as second-class citizens, will not be implemented in Kerala. That remains the position. All of Kerala will stand united in opposing this communally divisive law," Vijayan said in a statement.
