'CAA Rules Notification Before Polls Is Means To Gain Votes Through Polarisation': Oppn's Attack On BJP

CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said that the BJP-led Centre wants to notify CAA rules just before the Lok Sabha elections to use this as a political weapon.

File photo of CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury

Source : PTI

New Delhi: Opposition leaders including Sitaram Yechury, Tejashwi Yadav, and Asaduddin Owaisi, on Wednesday reacted to reports that Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rules will be notified by the Centre before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

On Tuesday, an official told PTI that the rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 are ready and will be notified "much before" the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections.

Reacting to the development, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said that the BJP-led Centre wants to notify CAA rules just before the Lok Sabha elections to use this as a political weapon to gain in the elections through sharpening "communal polarisation."

"Now it is clear. For all these years...these rules(CAA) were not notified...Clearly, they want to notify these rules just before the elections to use this as a political weapon to gain in the elections through sharpening communal polarisation. This is the clear-cut aim. This is utilising the rules, and declarations as a tool for some electoral gains," he said.

#WATCH | Delhi: CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury says, "Now it is clear. For all these years...these rules(CAA) were not notified...Clearly, they want to notify these rules just before the elections to use this as a political weapon to gain in the elections through sharpening… pic.twitter.com/ACczcoYnpz

— ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2024

Last month, Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated that no one can stop the implementation of the CAA as it is the law of the land. 

Reacting to a query on reports that CAA rules will be notified by the Centre, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said that CAA has been made on the basis of religion.

"CAA is anti-constitution. It is a law which has been made on the basis of religion. CAA must be read with and understood with NPR-NRC which will lay down the conditions to prove your citizenship in this country. If that happens it will be a grave injustice, especially to the Muslims, Dalits and the poor of India irrespective of the caste or religion they belong to," he told ANI.

#WATCH | Hyderabad, Telangana: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi says, "CAA is anti-constitution. It is a law which has been made on the basis of religion. CAA must be read with and understood with NPR-NRC which will lay down the conditions to prove your citizenship in this… pic.twitter.com/oxpWDBhsoD

— ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2024

RJD leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav stated that issues like Hindu-Muslim will resurface.

"Sometimes things are released like a balloon but nothing happens. As elections are approaching issues like Hindu-Muslim will come up," the Bihar leader said.

#WATCH | On Union Home Minister Amit Shah reiterating implementation of CAA, RJD leader & Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav says, "Sometimes things are released like a balloon but nothing happens...As elections are approaching issues like Hindu-Muslim will come up." pic.twitter.com/nkFZrfvv39

— ANI (@ANI) January 3, 2024

CAA Rules To Be Notified 'Much Before' Lok Sabha Poll Announcement

The rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act of 2019 will be notified "much before" the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, an official aware of the development told news agency PTI.

Under the CAA brought in by the Narendra Modi government, Indian nationality will be granted 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.

There were massive protests in some parts of the country after the CAA was passed by Parliament in December 2019 and received the presidential assent subsequently.

"We are going to issue the rules for the CAA soon. Once the rules are issued, the law can be implemented and those eligible can be granted Indian citizenship," the functionary said.

Amit Shah On CAA Implementation

On December 27, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that no one can stop the implementation of the CAA as it is the law of the land and accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of misleading people on the issue.

Addressing a party meeting in Kolkata, Shah said it was the BJP's commitment to implement the CAA.

The TMC, led by Mamata Banerjee, has been opposing the CAA.