The Citizenship Amendment Act will be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections take place in May this year.
The liberal cabal, also called the ‘secular brigade’, has accused the Modi
Government of seeking to disenfranchise the Indian Muslims through the
CAA.
Highlights of the CAA
- Persons belonging to the religious
minorities of Hinduism (Hindu), Jainism (Jain), Sikhism (Sikh),
Buddhism (Buddhist), Zoroastrianism (Parsi), and Christianity (Christian)
in the Islamic nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh
and who entered India on or before 31 December 2014 will not be
treated as illegal migrants.
- Such persons shall be deemed
to be citizens of India from the date of their entry into India.
- Under the Citizenship Act,
1955, the most important requirement for citizenship by naturalization is
that the applicant must have resided in India during the last 12
months, and for 11 years of the previous 14 years. The CAA
relaxes this 11-year requirement to six years for persons
belonging to the above-mentioned religions and the three countries.
As you see, there is
nothing anti-Muslim here. Also, it has nothing to do with Indian
citizens.
A Muslim from any country, including from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, can apply for Indian citizenship. However, she
will have to come through the normal process, and not through the expedited
process that will be available to non-Muslims from these countries.
The three countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan have been
explicitly mentioned because they are avowedly Muslim, with Islam as the state
religion. It is an open secret that the persons from the religious minorities
(Hindu, Christian, Jain, Buddhist, and Parsi) are greatly discriminated
against, persecuted in every way possible, and denied basic freedoms.
In these three Islamic nations, forced conversions to Islam are an ugly fact of
life while blasphemy laws are routinely used to harass and intimidate religious
minorities in these countries.
At the time the CAA was passed, the BJP has been greatly lacking in ‘communication’.
The party has several effective public speakers, yet they failed miserably in
communicating to the Indian public, especially Muslims, that the CAA has
nothing to do with Indian citizens.
This time around, the BJP has mounted an aggressive campaign to drive home the
precise point that Indian Muslims have nothing to fear from the CAA.