CAA Rules India Live Updates: The Central government on Monday notified the rules for the implementation of Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, four years after the contentious law was passed. Security was tightened in many parts of Delhi with paramilitary personnel conducting night patrols and flag marches in the northeastern parts of the city, Shaheen Bagh.
The CAA bill was passed in Parliament on December 11, 2019. This lead to widespread protests across the country, including Delhi which witnessed months-long anti-CAA protests in 2019-2020 with Jamia Millia Islamia and Shaheen Bagh being the epicentres of the stir. In early 2020, the city also witnessed communal riots in its northeastern parts over the issue in which 53 people were killed and over 500 injured.
The Citizenship Amendment Act aims to expedite the acquisition of Indian citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, but not Muslims, who migrated to India due to religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
CAA Rules Notified Live Updates: Centre notifies rules for CAA. Security beefed up in Delhi. Follow Financial Express for all the latest updates.
Anti-CAA protests erupted across Assam on Tuesday, with people burning effigies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, news agency PTI reported.
While the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad burnt effigies in Lakhimpur, the Congress torched copies of the law.
On CAA implementation, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar says, "BJP, whenever it commits to something in its manifesto, has a track record of fulfilling it. It is unfortunate that a bill legislated by Parliament which does not impact anybody today except those being persecuted for religion in three countries -Pakistan, Bangladesh & Afghanistan - is being made a political football. This is a humanitarian legislation. I appeal to everybody including those in the Muslim community to read the bill. This bill does not prejudice anybody. This type of taking a bill and trying to use falsehood and misinformation to score some political points is shameful..."
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday alleged that the BJP was following the Hindu Mahasabha’s concept of two-nation theory by implementing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
https://twitter.com/MehboobaMufti/status/1767456084111831363
In a post on X, she said, “77 years after partition, BJP is still wedded to the concept of two nation theory of Hindu Mahasabha. To further their agenda they have thus implemented CAA to create another partition among our people”.
On implementation of CAA, CPI-M leader Brinda Karat, "There are three main issues why we totally oppose it. Firstly, it changes the definition of citizenship and links it to religion which is highly discriminatory. Secondly, we oppose it because of the timing of this announcement. BJP thrives on polarisation and division - it is in the DNA of their politics. The rules of the CAA are against the character of the Constitution. They have not given powers to the state government."
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that he will be the first to resign if one person, who has not applied for National Register of Citizens (NRC), gets citizenship, news agency PTI reported.
'I am a son of Assam and if a single person who has not applied for NRC gets citizenship, I will be the first to resign', the chief minister said on the sidelines of a programme at Sivasagar.
There is nothing new about the CAA as it was enacted earlier, the chief minister said, adding that 'now the time has come for application on the portal'. 'The data on the portal will speak now, and it will become clear whether the claims of those opposing the Act stand factually correct or not," Sarma said. (PTI)
The CAA notification was delayed by almost four years mainly because of two reasons. One was the massive protests that the public staged and the other was the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the country in March 2020. Since 2020, the Home Ministry has been asking for an extension on framing the CAA rules at regular intervals.
Now, under the newly established CAA rules, individuals belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, or Christian communities, who are considered minorities in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, or Pakistan are eligible for Indian citizenship, if they fled these countries due to religious persecution and arrived in India before 2015. These individuals will also be exempt from legal action related to their illegal entry into India or overstaying their permitted duration in the country. Read to know more
Delhi Police and RAF held a flag march in Delhi's Welcome area on Tuesday morning following the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act rules.
The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) on Tuesday filed a plea before the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the implementation of the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) Rules 2024.
The plea states that "The Act and Rules would result in valuable rights being created and citizenship being granted to persons belonging to only certain religions, thereby resulting in a “fait accompli situation”, during the pendency of the present Writ Petition."
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has welcomed the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 after the centre notified rules on Monday.
"I welcome the decision which is taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is a good decision for Sikhs whose religion was converted in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh," said Gurcharan Singh Grewal, spokesperson of SGPC.
On CAA implementation, Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor said that he considers it "morally and constitutionally wrong".
"...I consider this morally and constitutionally wrong... I'm fully in support of the decision of the Indian Union Muslim League to go to the Supreme Court against this. And I must say, if the INDIA alliance and the Congress party come to power, we will withdraw this provision of the law beyond any shadow of a doubt. It's going to be in our manifesto. We will not support introducing religion into our citizenship and into our nation's life..."
The President of All India United Democratic Youth Front (AIUDYF), Jeherul Islam Badshah, while talking about the notification of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) told ANI, "This is a communal Act. We have been opposing it from the beginning and we will continue to oppose it...Our party opposes it. Communal sentiments are being spread across the country through it."
On CAA implementation, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in Rajasthan's Jodhpur told ANI, "Displaced persons from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who have entered India before 2014 will get priority in getting citizenship in the country. This will help lakhs of people who are staying in India. The law was passed in 2019, and the govt had the right to notify the rules. Today, 'Modi ki guarantee' has again been proved."
On the CAA notification, Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh said, "It took them 4 years and 3 months to bring this rule. The Bill was passed in December 2019. The law should have been formed within 3-6 months. Modi Government sought nine extensions from the Supreme Court and took 4 years and 3 months before notifying the rules last night. These are just for polarisation - to influence the elections in Bengal and Assam. If they were doing it honestly, why did they not bring it in 2020? They are bringing it now, one month before the elections. This is headline management...This is the strategy for social polarisation..."
Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam Chief and Actor Vijay on Tuesday opposed the notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2024.
"In the circumstances where the nation's people live with social harmony, doing divisive politics and introducing acts like CAA 2019 is unnecessary. The ruling government in the State should give assurance that they won't implement in law in Tamil Nadu," said Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam chief.
As the government notified the rules for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) issued an advisory for its students, asking them to remain vigilant and maintain peace and harmony on the campus in view of the ongoing students' election process.
AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Tuesday slammed the notification of the CAA rules, saying the Union government has made a "historic blunder" with its implementation and charged the ruling BJP at the Centre with doing so for political mileage.
He said the "AIADMK vehemently condemns this move which is aimed at dividing people ahead of the Lok Sabha polls to derive political mileage", even though it was not implemented for the past five years.
"The Central government has committed a historic blunder with this. The AIADMK will never allow any attempt to implement it against indigenous people--the Muslims and Sri Lankan Tamils. AIADMK will join the people of the country to democratically oppose it," the State Leader of Opposition said in a post on X.
Guwahati Police issued a legal notice to the opposition political parties who called for a 'Sarbatmak Hartal' in Assam to protest against the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
As the Centre notified rules for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, bringing it into effect, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge took a dig at the BJP and said, "It particularly highlighted that the CAA i.e. Citizenship Amendment Act is discriminatory in nature and goes against the basic principles and spirit of the Indian Constitution."
"CAA rules notified today just before elections, is BJP’s desperate attempt at divisive politics," Kharge added.
Security was tightened in many parts of Delhi with paramilitary personnel conducting night patrols and flag marches in the northeastern parts of the city, Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar and other sensitive areas after the Centre implemented the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.
Police in Delhi's northeast district identified 43 hotspots and conducted patrols there. These areas include Seelampur, Jaffrabad, Mustafabad, Bhajanpura, Khajoori Khas and Seemapuri, an official told PTI.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was notified in India on Monday, was long overdue and mirrors the Lautenberg Amendment for religious refugees in the United States, Hindu American groups said.
“India's Citizenship Amendment Act is long overdue and necessary. It protects some of the most vulnerable refugees in India, granting them the human rights they were denied in their home country, and the clear and expedited path to citizenship needed for them to begin rebuilding their lives,” said Hindu American Foundation (HAF) executive director Suhag Shukla.
HAF in a statement said that CAA does not alter the rights of any Indian citizen nor does it establish any religious test for general immigration or exclude Muslims from immigrating to India, as is sometimes wrongly said and reported. (PTI)
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Monday denounced the central government's notification on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), calling it a divisive and damaging move with purely communal motives.
"It flies in the face of the core principle that in India, whatever your religion is, whatever your caste is, whatever your language is, whatever your colour is, whatever part of the country you live in, it doesn't matter. If you're a citizen of India, you have the same rights as everyone else," Tharoor told PTI.
Pakistani national Seema Haider, who illegally entered India with her four children last year and now lives in Greater Noida, on Monday lauded the Centre's move to notify the rules of implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Haider, who claims to have adopted Hinduism and married Greater Noida resident Sachin Meena, also hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the decision and claimed that the CAA would help her get Indian citizenship.
The Empowered Committee that will decided on applications seeking Indian citizenship under the CAA will be headed by the Director (Census Operations) and will have seven other members, a government notification on Monday said.
Delhi's Majnu ka Tila witnesses celebrations among Pakistani refugees as the Centre notifies the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act. Similarly, in Jodhpur, Pakistani refugees join in the jubilation as the Centre confirms the implementation of the CAA.
Protests erupted on the Jamia Millia Islamia campus here on Monday hours after the Centre notified the rules of the Citizens.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday attacked the Centre for notifying the rules of CAA, terming it as the BJPs' game of distraction, while BSP supremo Mayawati said doubts, confusion and fear should have been cleared instead of implementing it before Lok Sabha elections.
Security has been beefed up with intense patrolling and flag march by paramilitary personnel in northeast Delhi, Shaheen Bagh, Jamia Nagar and other sensitive areas across the national capital after rules for the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was notified on Monday, officials said.
Keeping the security concerns in view, Delhi Police has identified identified 43 hotspots in the northeast district and conducted patrols on Monday night. These areas include Seelampur, Jaffrabad, Mustafabad, Bhajanpura, Khajoori Khas and Seemapuri, an official said.