Indian Muslims should welcome CAA, they aren’t affected by this law: All India Muslim Jamaat President

Hours after the Citizenship Amendment Act was notified by the central government, All India Muslim Jamaat President Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi said he welcomed the legislation, and tried to allay fears among the Muslim community, saying that it wouldn’t impact their citizenship status.

“The Govt of India has implemented the CAA law. I welcome this law. This should have been done much earlier but better late than never… There are a lot of misunderstandings among the Muslims regarding this law. This law has nothing to do with Muslims. Earlier there was no law to provide citizenship to the non-Muslims coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who faced atrocities based on religion…,” said the Maulana, speaking to reporters.

“Crores of Indian Muslims will not be affected by this law at all… This law is not going to take away the citizenship of any Muslim… In the past years, it has been seen that there were protests, it was because of misunderstandings. Some political people created misunderstandings among the Muslims… Every Muslim of India should welcome the CAA…,” he added.

In February, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in categorical terms that CAA was brought in to provide citizenship and not to take away anyone’s citizenship.

“Minorities in our country, and specially our Muslim community, are being provoked. CAA cannot snatch away anyone’s citizenship because there is no provision in the Act. CAA is an act to provide citizenship to refugees who were persecuted in Bangladesh and Pakistan,” Shah had said.

On Monday evening, the Union Home Ministry notified rules for implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), days ahead of the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections schedule.

The CAA, introduced by the Narendra Modi government and passed by Parliament in 2019, aims to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants – including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians – who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.

The applications for citizenship would have to be submitted in a completely online mode, for which a web portal has been provided.

Following the passage of the CAA by Parliament in December 2019 and its subsequent Presidential assent, significant protests erupted in various parts of the country. The implementation of the CAA, which has been delayed for over four years, necessitated the formulation of its associated rules.

As per the manual of parliamentary procedures, the guidelines for any legislation should have been formulated within six months of receiving the presidential assent, or the government should have sought an extension from the Committees on Subordinate Legislation in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

Since 2020, the Ministry of Home Affairs has been regularly seeking extensions from the parliamentary committees to continue the process of framing the rules associated with the legislation.

Over a hundred individuals lost their lives either during the protests or due to police action subsequent to the passage of the law in Parliament. During the past two years, over 30 district magistrates and home secretaries across nine states have been authorized with the ability to confer Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians arriving from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan under the Citizenship Act of 1955.

As per the Ministry of Home Affairs annual report for 2021-22, between April 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021, a cumulative count of 1,414 individuals from non-Muslim minority communities originating from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan were granted Indian citizenship through registration or naturalization under the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Under the Citizenship Act of 1955, Indian citizenship by registration or naturalization is granted to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan in nine states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Maharashtra.

It’s notable that authorities in districts of Assam and West Bengal, both politically sensitive regions on this matter, have not been empowered with these citizenship-granting authorities thus far.