New Delhi, February 27: The contentious Citizenship Amendment Act or CAA, which was passed by the Parliament in December 2019, is likely to be implemented from March ahead of the Lok Sabha election. According to news agency ANI, which cited sources, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) could notify the CAA rules any time before the model code of conduct is implemented.
"The MHA could notify the CAA rules any time before the model code of conduct is implemented. The CAA rules would ensure the processing of Indian citizenship applications from persecuted minorities in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh," sources told ANI. Earlier this month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the CAA will be notified and implemented before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
"CAA is an Act of the country, it will be definitely be notified. It will be notified before the polls. CAA will be implemented by the polls, and there should be no confusion around it," Shah had said speaking at the ET Now-Global Business summit, asserting that the legislation was brought in to provide citizenship and not to take away anyone's citizenship.
Protests Against CAA:
The passing of CAA triggered large-scale protests across the country in 2019, leading to unrest in several cities and many deaths. Protests first erupted in Assam on December 4, 2019, when the bill was introduced in Parliament. Soon it spread to major cities, including Delhi.
The protests resulted in 27 deaths by December-end, out of which 22 died in Uttar Pradesh alone. Over a thousand people were arrested and more than 300 cases registered against the agitators.
