With CAA, Modi govt underlines: ‘Did all we promised’

FOUR YEARS after the Citizenship (Amendment) Act was passed, its rules have been notified just ahead of the next general elections as the Narendra Modi government wants to emphasise its message to voters that “Jo kaha, voh kiya (delivered all that we promised)”.

Minutes after the rules were notified, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has steered the CAA, posted on X: “With this notification PM Shri @narendramodi Ji has delivered on another commitment and realised the promise of the makers of our Constitution to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians living in those (neighbouring) countries.”

The CAA had been brought in and passed within months of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which the Act was part of the BJP’s manifesto promises. It eased the citizenship process for “persecuted religious minorities” from neighbouring countries Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who had entered India before December 31, 2014 – hence, covering Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians, and excluding only Muslims.

Seen as discriminatory towards Muslims, the Act had triggered protests across the country, forcing the government to pause its notification. As the wait for its rules to be notified dragged on, Opposition parties attacked the BJP for talking about the CAA only close to elections, just so to polarise voters.

Now that the CAA has come into force, the BJP will hope for electoral gains in West Bengal, which has a huge population of Hindus who migrated from Bangladesh and have been demanding citizenship rights. The Trinamool Congress-ruled state with its 42 seats is a good catchment area for the BJP if Modi’s goal of winning 370 seats in the coming Lok Sabha polls is to come true. The BJP had won 18