CAA before LS polls, won’t strip anyone of citizenship, says Shah

New Delhi, February 10

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be notified and implemented before the upcoming Lok Sabha election, while calling it an “act of the country”. He emphasised the Act is for providing citizenship and not to “take away anyone’s citizenship”.

“The CAA is an act of the country. It will be notified before the polls. There should be no confusion around it. Minorities in our country, and especially our Muslim community, are being provoked. The CAA cannot snatch away anyone’s citizenship because there is no provision in the Act.

The CAA is aimed at providing citizenship to refugees who were persecuted in Bangladesh and Pakistan,” Shah said while addressing an event.

Minorities being provoked

CAA is Act of our country. It will be notified before polls. Minorities, especially Muslims, are being provoked. It can’t snatch away anyone’s citizenship as there is no such provision. —Amit Shah, Home Minister

The implementation of the CAA has been a significant electoral agenda for the BJP. Shah further accused the previous Congress government of “backtracking” on the promise to implement the CAA in the country.

“The CAA was a promise of the Congress government. When the country was divided and the minorities were persecuted in those countries, the Congress had assured the refugees that they were welcome in India and they will be provided with Indian citizenship. Now they are backtracking,” he said.

Initially, protests had begun in Assam on December 4, 2019, after the CAA was introduced. These later intensified and spread across the country after the passage of the Act on December 11, 2019.

Shah while criticising Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for his comments on PM Modi’s caste, termed it as “unfortunate” and alleged Gandhi had a habit of telling lies publicly and repeating those thereafter. He said it was the Congress government in Gujarat that included Modi’s caste in the list of OBC in 1994 and the Centre included the PM’s caste in its OBC list in 2000.

What Act entails

Under the CAA, Modi government wants to grant Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who had come to India till December 31, 2014