AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi responded to the notification from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to empower district collectors in Gujarat to grant citizenship to migrants from the six communities who entered India with valid documents on Tuesday. “You should make this law religion-neutral,” Owaisi advised.
A new rule by the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) allows the District Collectors of Mehsana and Anand districts in Gujarat to investigate people and grant citizenship, officials said.
Asaduddin Owaisi was quoted as saying, “It is already happening that you first give the long-term VISA and then they (minority community of Afghanistan) get citizenship.”
Since the matter is sub-judice, Asaduddin Owaisi refused to comment more, saying, “Citizenship Amendment Act has to be linked with National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC)”. “Supreme Court is hearing this, let’s see what happens,” he added.
Asked about the BJP’s decision to form a committee to implement the Uniform Civil Code, AIMIM Chief said the committee was formed to hide the government’s failures. “Why Hindu undivided family tax rebate is given only to Hindus. Give it to Muslims also, it is against the fundamental right of the Right to Equality of the constitution,” he added.
It is not the first time the MHA has delegated such powers to district magistrates or collectors. Similar orders were issued in 2016, 2018, and 2021 to grant citizenship certificates to migrants from the six communities who entered India with valid documents in several districts of Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab. Since citizenship is a central subject, the MHA from time-to-time delegates State officials to exercise such powers.
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The Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Act on December 11, 2019, and the President signed it the next day. In January 2020, the Ministry notified that the Act would come into force from January 10, 2020, but later requested the Parliamentary Committees in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha to give it some more time to implement rules as the country was experiencing its worst ever health crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
MHA had requested similar extensions six times previously from Parliamentary Committees. In June 2020, the first extension was granted for notifying CAA rules.
The legislation, which grants citizenship to immigrants belonging to Hindu, Jain, Sikh, Parsi, Christian, and Buddhist communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, was passed by Parliament amid fierce criticism from the Opposition who pointed out the communal agenda behind the law as it conspicuously excluded Muslims.
The legislation has been interpreted in conjunction with repeated claims made by Home Minister Amit Shah, prior to the Act being passed, that a nationwide exercise would be conducted to prepare the National Register of Indian Citizens (NRC) to identify illegal immigrants. This was seen as a project to disenfranchise Muslims. While there were nationwide protests following the law’s passage, and several states have stated that they will not implement the law.
However, the law has yet to be implemented because the CAA rules have yet to be framed.
According to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, if Ministries/Departments are unable to frame the rules within six months of Presidential approval, they must “seek an extension of time from the Committee on Subordinate Legislation stating reasons for such extension,” which cannot be more than three months at a time.
The central government has already stated that Indian citizenship will be granted to eligible CAA beneficiaries only after rules under the legislation are notified.
The CAA’s objective is to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who had come to India till December 31, 2014. They will not be considered illegal immigrants and given Indian citizenship.
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