Milind Deora opens new front post 'amend CAA' demand; asks 'why aren't rules framed?'

A day after demanding an amendment to the Citizenship Amendment Act, Congress leader Milind Deora lambasted the Centre for a delay in framing the rules of this law. Taking to Twitter, the former Lok Sabha MP opined that the CAA must be tweaked to rehabilitate the Hindus fleeing Bangladesh as it currently only protects those who have arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. This was in reference to the current spate of attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh during the Durga Puja, which has led to 450 arrests.

However, Deora opened a new front on Tuesday alleging that the CAA was not aimed at safeguarding the rights of religious minorities. Maintaining that the enaction of the CAA was a "political gimmick" to win elections, he questioned whether an Afghan Sikh or Bangladeshi Hindu had been granted citizenship under this law so far. Pertinently, the Congress party had staunchly opposed the passage of the CAA and its implementation. 

What is the CAA? 

The CAA seeks to provide citizenship to the minority communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. This will be applicable to the members of these communities having arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014. Moreover, they shall not be considered illegal migrants. Additionally, the mandatory residence period for naturalised citizenship for these communities would be reduced to 5 years.

Several parties in the North East such as the (AASU) have been vehemently opposed to this legislation. To ameliorate their concerns of organizations such as the All Assam Students’ Union, the Centre has exempted a major part of the North East from the ambit of the Act. The opposition contended that the Act discriminates on the basis of religion, which might go against Article 14, which guarantees the right to equality. After an hours-long debate in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the legislation was cleared by a majority of the members voting in the favour of the Centre in December 2019. 

While the rules for the legislation were expected to be framed within a period of 6 months of the President's assent, this has not happened in the case of the CAA. Recently, the Centre sought time till January 9, 2022, from the Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to frame the CAA rules. Both Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda have made it clear that this law will be implemented in the future.