Citizenship law CAA in India: opposition parties flay Modi govt
Opposition parties in India have flayed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government for enforcing the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 paving the way for citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan while BJP has welcomed it.
Congress, Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) said CAA implementation at this time was aimed at polarising the voters ahead of Lok Sabha elections due in April-May.
Unlike in December-January 2019-20 when the enactment of CAA had sparked violent street protests in several parts of the country, the implementation of the law has so far not evoked any untoward incident anywhere so far, barring a peaceful protest inside the campus of Jamia Millia University in Delhi.
A section of Jamia Millia Islamia students had held a protest against CAA implementation on the campus last evening, after which security was beefed up and paramilitary personnel deployed, reports our New Delhi correspondent quoting a senior Delhi Police officer.
Parts of Delhi which witnessed months of anti-CAA protests in 2019-2020 with Jamia Millia Islamia and nearby Shaheen Bagh being the epicentres of the agitation.
Posse of security personnel was deployed around Jamia Millia Islamia today while security was tightened in Delhi with paramilitary personnel conducting patrols and flag marches a day after CAA was implemented.
In north eastern India where CAA is sensitive, All Assam Students' Union (AASU), which had spearheaded a six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in 1970s, said it would fight legally against CAA implementation.
Assam and several other northeastern states had witnessed widespread protests after the BJP-led government at the Centre moved towards amending the citizenship act in 2019.
In 2019, protests against CAA in Assam were led primarily by the AASU and the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS). The protests turned violent leaving five persons dead in police firing.
REACTIONS
Congress leader of the opposition in Assam assembly Debabrata Saikia today termed the notification of CAA as "unfortunate".
"When Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP had been saying since 2016 that all illegal foreigners will have to leave Assam, they betrayed the people of the state and brought in CAA,'' Saikia said.
Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi said "the process to legitimise 15-20 lakh Bangladeshi Hindus illegally living in Assam has begun. There is no other way but to come out on the street and protest against this unconstitutional act.''
"Assam's long struggle against illegal immigration has been nullified with just this one act. This act will also open the doors for 1.7 crore Hindus living in Bangladesh to cross over to Assam. There is no other option but to fight against this act with full force. It has to be an all-encompassing protest," Gogoi said.
Chief advisor of AASU and North East Students' Organisation Samujjal Bhattacharjya said they will not accept CAA and will continue to protest against it. "We are already in talks with our advocates and will continue our legal fight against its implementation,'' he said.
But BJP senior spokesperson Rupam Goswami welcomed the notification of the rules of CAA, saying it was much awaited.
"There was a misinformation campaign by the opposition that crores of Hindus from Bangladesh would enter Assam after the law was passed by Parliament but nothing of that sort has happened,'' Goswami said.
All India United Democratic Front leader Ashraful Hussain said BJP has implemented the CAA before the Lok Sabha polls as it is ''greedy for Bangladeshi Hindu votes''.
''They have done it only to win this election and also to fulfil BJP's Hindutva agenda by polarising the Hindu votes,'' he said.
Indian citizenship for anyone coming to Assam before March 25, 1971 should not be based on any religion or community'', Hussain said.
However, maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi, President of All India Muslim Jamaat, welcomed CAA and sought to assure the Muslim community that it would not affect 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 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...," ANI quoted the Maulana as saying.
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