In a significant step ahead of the announcement of poll schedule for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Centre on Monday notified rules for the implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), paving the way for granting of citizenship to people of certain faiths facing persecution in neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

According to officials, the CAA rules aim to give Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was an integral part of the BJP’s 2019 manifesto.

In a post on X, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Modi Government today notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.

“These rules will now enable minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to acquire citizenship in our nation. With this notification PM Shri @narendramodi Ji has delivered on another commitment and realised the promise of the makers of our constitution to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians living in those countries,” he said.

Earlier in a post on X, spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said: “These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for the grant of Indian citizenship. The applications will be submitted in a completely online mode for which a web portal has been provided.”

The BJP also welcomed the Centre’s announcement to notify the CAA.

“Did what was said…Modi government fulfilled its guarantee by issuing the notification of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),” the BJP said in a post on X.

Meanwhile, the Congress took a jibe at the Modi government over the timing of its decision to notify CAA rules, saying the notification move near the date of announcement of Lok Sabha election dates is “evidently designed to polarise the elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam.”

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a post of X that the Modi government has taken over four years to notify the rules.

In her reaction to the government’s announcement, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said it is BJP’s “publicity for elections” and if the rules “deprive” people of their rights, she will fight against them.

“Let me see the rules first. The notification has not been issued yet. 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,” the Trinamool Congress chief said at a press conference in Kolkata.

Jairam Ramesh said the government took nine extensions for the notification of the rules and the timing of the government move also appears to be an attempt to manage the headlines after the Supreme Court verdict in the electoral bonds case.

“It has taken four years and three months for the Modi Government to notify the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act that was passed by the Parliament in December 2019.

Earlier on February 10, the Union Home Minister had reiterated that the Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed by the Parliament in December 2019, would be notified and implemented before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

“CAA is an Act of the country. It will definitely be notified. It will be notified before the polls. CAA will be implemented by the polls, and there should be no confusion around it. CAA was a promise of the Congress government. When the country was divided and the minorities were persecuted in those countries, Congress had assured the refugees that they were welcome in India and they would be provided with Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking,” Shah had said.

The Union Home Minister had said in categorical terms that CAA was brought in to provide citizenship and not to take away anyone’s citizenship.

“Minorities in our country, and especially our Muslim community, are being provoked. CAA cannot snatch away anyone’s citizenship because there is no provision in the Act. CAA is an act to provide citizenship to refugees who were persecuted in Bangladesh and Pakistan.”

As per the Ministry of Home Affairs’ annual report for 2021-22, between April 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021, a cumulative count of 1,414 individuals from non-Muslim minority communities originating from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan were granted Indian citizenship through registration or naturalization under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

The CAA, passed on December 11, 2019 by Parliament, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955.

The Union Home Minister Amit Shah in 2019 said that the grant of citizenship would be from the date and year of entry into India and all the cases and legal proceedings against them would be closed, besides protecting their business and trade interests on an equal footing.

President Ram Nath Kovind on December 13, 2019, gave his assent, officially constituting it as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).