Controversial CAA is ready with its rules, when General Elections are right around the corner in India

If reports are to be believed, rules under Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) is ready to be notified before 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. Ever since the Act was passed at the end of 2019, it was under work due to extension of rules. The Act was passed on 10 December 2019 in Lok Sabha and days later in Rajya Sabha, after it was introduced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah in the Upper House. The Act has been surrounded by controversies from the time it was out there. Described by The Wire, ‘The Act aims to provide citizenship to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians purportedly fleeing persecution from India’s Muslim-majority neighbors; namely Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh’.
However, various protests have been taken place in past few years because of exclusion of Muslims in the Act. Widespread protests across the country regarding absence of Muslims from the Act has raised multiple questions, but that does not stopped government to move forward with the amendment. According to The Wire report, ‘We are going to issue the rules for the CAA in the coming days. Once the rules are issued, the law can be implemented and those eligible can be granted Indian citizenship, the Indian Express newspaper quoted sources as saying’. In addition, ‘All things are in place and yes, they are likely to be implemented before the elections. The applicants will have to declare the year when they entered India without travel documents. No document will be sought from the applicants. Requests of the applicants, who had applied after 2014, will be converted as per the new rules’, reported The wire.
Political expert Vinayak Patil shared his opinion with EAT news. He said, ‘Releasing rules before General Elections could be a turning point for ruling party. Because, the support is not universal and there are people raising their voice against the Act. So, BJP government will make easy for both the sides to decide, who they have to give vote to.’ He further added, even though opposition has constantly raised this matter along with protestors, people in large number are supporting CAA with all its advantages to the surroundings and country in future. The assumption of Indian government that Muslims can’t be persecuted in Muslim majority countries, is not true, according to the protestors. Sahil was a part of protest held in 2019, and have his questions from the government. ‘I am not against any political party or any leader, it’s the ideology. The approach current government is adapting to move forward. CAA is clearly excluding Muslim community. I want to ask, why? Why are they assuming that Muslim can’t be persecuted in countries like Pakistan or Afghanistan? There are few communities such as Hazaras, Ahmadiyya, facing persecution’, he said.
Discrimination on the basis of religion is not a culture of India and it should not start, Sahil believes. Even though, Sahil and his mates do not agree with CAA and finds it a discrimination on an extreme, political expert Mr. Patil disagrees here. According to him, this is not discrimination, but a step to uplift other communities in the country. He described it, and said, ‘It is not discrimination, but an opportunity for other communities to be uplifted. India is a Hindu majority country, with people practicing other religions. Islam is a second largest religion in the country, with 14.2% of the population practicing it. Indian government is trying to strengthen other communities such as Sikhs, Christians, Parsis by allowing persecuted ones to become citizens, and personally, I do not perceive it as a wrong intention.’ He further added, that it has become so common for some people to turn a decent situation into communal related, which harms the surrounding.
Can opposition through the support of CAA, get votes in upcoming elections, to which Mr. Patil told EAT news, they can. ‘Political parties are coming together as strong opposition to stand against BJP. Allies are becoming support of each other with campaigns, agenda. So, opposition this time is gearing up to compete. If, it uses the criticism around CAA for to win votes, it won’t be surprising. But the question is, whether it will help the circumstances to come in their favour, I doubt. This government has remained stable and stick to their decisions. Even if we look in past, there are times when protests happened, but decisions never turned back and today, India’s economy is one of the five largest economies in the world.’, he said. According to him, there are people who do not agree with how this government works, but they cannot deny that this government has taken India to a different level, globally.
Political expert Vinayak Patil believes, release of CAA rules before elections will not affect BJP, whereas Sahil, who strongly oppose CAA, declares it BJP’s discriminated approach, that needs to be question.