CAA a non-issue for Punjab electorate, parties in no mood to rake it up

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, May 16

The implementation of the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) seems to hold no sway in the electoral politics of the state. Since it is a non-issue for the electorate, the political parties too seem not keen on raking it up.

Politically, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the principal opposition party, Congress, are vehemently opposed to the implementation of the Act. The Shiromani Akali Dal, on the other hand, supports it by saying that it gives an opportunity to the displaced Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan to get citizenship in India.

On the ground, none of the parties in the election fray have so far raked up the issue. Though Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has started saying that the BJP will change the Constitution if voted to power, and that their party was against the ‘division of people on communal lines’, he has not directly touched the CAA.

This disinterest in the CAA may be because very few people belonging to minority religions from other countries are settled here. Other than Amritsar, where minuscule number of Sikhs displaced from Afghanistan are settled, no other place in the state has these migrants.

Vikramjit Singh Sahney, AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP, who was at the forefront in rescuing Afghan Sikhs and Hindus after the Taliban took over the reins there, told The Tribune, “I evacuated 547 Afghan Sikhs and Hindus and rehabilitated them in Mahavir Nagar in West Delhi by providing them with homes, household expenses and medical insurance for four years. Of them, 410 have already moved to Canada. In Ludhiana, 18 families consisting of 75 people were rehabilitated, but all of them have moved to Canada,” he said.

Information gathered by The Tribune reveals that the nodal agency for seeking applications for grant of citizenship to displaced persons is the Directorate of Census. A senior official there, while requesting anonymity, said they had not received any application at the directorate level so far. “District-level committees have been formed, with a senior officer from the Department of Posts heading these committees. They will be getting applications and scanning these before sending these to the directorate here,” he said.

AAP, Cong against it

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the principal opposition party, Congress, are vehemently opposed to the implementation of the Citizen Amendment Act. The Shiromani Akali Dal, on the other hand, supports it by saying that it gives an opportunity to the displaced Sikhs from Pakistan and Afghanistan to get citizenship in India.