News Analysis India

Tag: CAA

  • Developments in volatile neighbourhood are the reason why CAA is necessary: Hardeep Singh Puri

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI:: After a special Indian Air Force (IAF) repatriation flight ferrying 168 people from Kabul landed at Ghaziabad Hindon air base on Sunday, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that developments in the volatile neighbourhood are the reason why enactment of Citizenship Amendment Act is necessary.

    Sharing a news article, Singh tweeted, “Recent developments in our volatile neighbourhood and the way Sikhs and Hindus are going through a harrowing time are precisely why it was necessary to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act.”

    People in Afghanistan have been rushing to leave the country after the Taliban seized control last week. On August 15, the country’s government fell soon after President Ashraf Ghani left the country. Countries have been urgently evacuating their citizens from the war-torn nation. The Kabul airport is witnessing nowadays a heavy chaos due to instability in the region.

    The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has said the government is committed to the safe return of all Indian nationals from Afghanistan. The MEA said that the main challenge for travel to and from Afghanistan is the operational status of the Kabul airport.

    MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, tweeted earlier to say that two Nepalese citizens were among those on board the Air India flight from Kabul. The CAA allows persecuted minorities belonging to the Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan to avail of Indian citizenship.

    According to the provisions of the act, people belonging to these communities who arrived in India till December 31, 2014, due to religious persecution in these three countries will not be treated as illegal migrants but will be provided with Indian citizenship.

    If a person belongs to the aforementioned faiths, from these three countries, does not have proof of birth of parents, they can apply for Indian citizenship after six years of residence in India. President of India Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the legislation on December 12, 2019.

    The Opposition parties and several groups have protested against the implementation of CAA. CAA’s detractors believe that the law coupled with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise is intended to target the minorities in India.

  • Citizenship under CAA only after issuance of rules; no more amendments proposed: Government

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Centre said on Wednesday that Indian citizenship to the eligible beneficiaries under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be given only after rules under the legislation are notified. Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai also said there is no proposal under consideration of the government for any further amendment of the Citizenship Act.

    “Eligible persons covered by the Citizenship Amendment Act may submit applications for grant of citizenship after appropriate rules are notified by the central government,” he said in a written reply to a query in Rajya Sabha.

    He was asked whether the government has received new applications for citizenship after the CAA 2019 was enacted. The CAA was notified on December 12, 2019 and came into force with effect from January 10, 2020, the minister said.

    “The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been requested to grant further extension of time up to January 9, 2022 to frame the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019,” Rai said.

    The objective of the CAA is to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The government got an extension for the fifth time for framing these rules.

    According to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, the rules for any legislation should be framed within six months of presidential assent or an extension of the time must be sought. Those from the mentioned communities who had come to India till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

    After the CAA was passed by Parliament, widespread protests were witnessed in different parts of the country leading to the death of nearly 100 people in police firing and related violence.

  • Matuas threaten to end support to BJP over delay in implementation of CAA rules

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA: A day after Union minister of state (home affairs) Nityananda Rai sought a six-month time period to frame the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the leadership of the All India Matua Mahasangha said it would withdraw support for the BJP if its demands for the implementation of the CAA is delayed further.  

    “The Union minister’s announcement has created insecurity as far as citizenship of our community is concerned. If it goes on, Matuas will withdraw their support that was extended to the BJP in the previous 2019 general elections and the recent Assembly elections in Bengal,” said Mahitosh Baidya, the general secretary of the Mahasangha.

    Baidya was among the Matua delegates who accompanied Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Orakandi in Bangladesh, the birthplace of Matua sect founder Harichand Thakur, ahead of the Assembly elections in the state. Of the 77 Assembly seats won by the BJP in West Bengal, about 50 per cent are from areas dominated by the Matuas.

    With discontent starting to brew within the sect, which helped the BJP grow its foothold in West Bengal, the national body of the refugees expressed its displeasure at the Centre for proposing a further delay in giving them the promised citizenship. 

    Ahead of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP had assured the Matuas it will implement the CAA at the earliest. However, blaming the pandemic, the Centre has sought more time. 

  • Centre seeks extension till January 9 for framing CAA rules

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The central government has sought extension till January 9 for framing rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was passed by Parliament in 2019, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

    He was replying to a question from Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on whether the government had missed the deadline to frame and notify CAA rules and the steps taken in this context.

    “The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) has been notified on 12.12.2019 and has come into force w.e.f. 10.01.2020,” the minister said.

    “The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been requested to grant further extension of time upto 09.01.2022 to frame the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019,” Rai said.

    ALSO READ | AASU head says not afraid of being spied on by Pegasus, fight against CAA to continue 

    The CAA envisages to grant Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

    This is the fifth extension sought by the government for framing of these rules.

    According to the Manual on Parliamentary Work, the rules for any legislation should have been framed within six months of presidential assent or seek extension.

    The objective of the CAA is to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities like Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

    Those from these communities who had come to India till December 31, 2014, facing religious persecution there, will not be treated as illegal immigrants but given Indian citizenship.

    After the CAA was passed by Parliament, widespread protests were witnessed in different parts of the country leading to deaths of nearly 100 people in police firing and related violence.

  • AASU head says not afraid of being spied on by Pegasus, fight against CAA to continue 

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Student body AASU’s Chief Adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya on Thursday said that he is not afraid of being targeted by Pegasus phone surveillance and his struggle against the CAA will continue.

    In its series of expose on the alleged Pegasus phone spying scandal, The Wire news portal published its latest article on Wednesday stating that phone numbers of two prominent Assamese personalities also figured in the list of around 50,000 numbers worldwide.

    All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) Chief Adviser Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya and ULFA (pro-talk faction) General Secretary Anup Chetia’s numbers are part of the list, which was exposed and analysed by a global alliance of media publications.

    A day after his name popped up in the spying controversy, Bhattacharya expressed surprise and shock, and termed the entire act of putting scores of Indian citizens under surveillance as “anti-national”.

    “In this situation, if it is thought that we will be scared with taping of our phones, it is wrong. We will not be afraid. If it is thought that we will not continue with our non-violent struggle to protect the interests of the indigenous people of Northeast, that will not happen.

    “Our zeal to fight for our rights will continue, nobody can stop us. We are working for protection of the interests of the indigenous people of the Northeast. Our high command is the people of the region.

    We are working under the guardianship of the people,” Bhattacharya told PTI in an interview. He said that whatever he or his colleagues talk over phone, everything is transparent and they say the same thing to the people and the media, and there is nothing to hide.

    The AASU leader asserted that the core issue is very clear and it is the influx of illegal foreigners, which is a threat to the identity of the indigenous people of Assam and the Northeastern region.

    “Assam Agitation took place because of this and the Assam Accord was signed. But it has not been implemented and the situation became more grave. Northeast was becoming a dumping ground with the imposition of Citizenship (Amendment) Act,” he added.

    The CAA is a violation of the Assam Accord and it is “anti-Constitution, communal, anti-indigenous and anti-Northeast”, Bhattacharya said.

    A six-year agitation demanding identification and deportation of illegal immigrants was launched by the AASU in 1979.

    It had culminated in the signing of the Assam Accord on August 15, 1985 in the presence of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

    “That is why the anti-CAA movement in the Northeast was very strong. Our method of the movement was different from other parts of the country and it was non-violent. It will continue,” he added.

    Talking about the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, Bhattacharya said the Constitutional safeguard has to be given to the indigenous people of the state.

    The CAA seeks to provide Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis entering India on or before December 31, 2014 from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after five years of residence here.

    As per Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

    The bone of contention since the signing of the Accord in 1985 has been the definition of the Assamese people.

    “That is why a high-powered committee was formed by the Central government. It submitted its report more than a year ago. The Centre had given an assurance to implement it in letter and spirit, but nothing has been done yet,” he said.

    As per the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

    On the Pegasus controversy, Bhattacharya said, “Israel is a foreign nation. A foreign nation taking permission of Indian government and spying on Indian citizens, this is just the murder of democracy. It is a dangerous and fascist attack on privacy, against the Constitution and an anti-India act.”

    About the Indian government’s continuous denial of the snooping act, he said if it was done without the knowledge of the Centre, it is more dangerous.

    “Then the offices of the prime minister, home minister, defence minister, our internal security — everything can be under surveillance. It is a threat to the integrity, sovereignty and internal security of the country. It is basically a serious threat to the country,” Bhattacharya said.

    The AASU leader also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah to tell the truth to the people of the nation whether the surveillance has the government’s sanction or it is being done by a foreign nation without its knowledge.

    ULFA (pro-talk) General Secretary Anup Chetia, the other person whose number was also found in the Pegasus leaked list, said on Wednesday he was not surprised that his phone was allegedly being tapped.

    “It is natural that the security agencies would tap our phones. We have to see our past also. We fought against the state and declared a war against India. However, I don’t know if Pegasus infected my phone or not,” the insurgent leader, who is now part of a dialogue process, said.

    Like Bhattacharya, Chetia too was vocal about his opposition to the CAA.

    A global media consortium has recently reported that over 300 verified mobile phone numbers, including of two central ministers, over 40 journalists, three opposition leaders besides scores of business persons and activists in India, could have been targeted for hacking using the Israeli spyware Pegasus, which is usually supplied to government agencies.

    The Indian government and Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, which sells Pegasus spyware worldwide, have refuted the reports.

  • Assam CM says need to balance identity issues, admits to people having reservations on CAA

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said despite confusion among Assamese over the Citizenship Amendment Act, which some felt could turn them into a minority in the state, there was a need to balance identity issues in the larger national interest.

    Sarma speaking at a function where RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat launched a book on CAA and NRC, also asserted the concept of secularism needs to be defined in the context of `Indian civilisation’ and accused the media of being partial towards Left-liberals.

    The chief minister said he would remain a supporter of CAA which in Assam’s context could give citizenship to Hindu migrants from Bangladesh, and added that there was a need to find a way to address concerns over protecting Assamese identity, while finding a way to “balance everything and contribute to nation building”.

    Though he did not clarify what secularism in the context of Indian civilisation meant, his speech seemed to argue that Indian civilisation in his worldview drew strength from Indias culture and religion.

    Attacking Leftist intellectuals, liberals and the media, he claimed the country’s intellectual society is still dominated by left-liberals with the media giving them more space while ignoring alternative voices.

    “An intellectual terrorism has been unleashed and the Left in the country are more leftists than Karl Marx. There is no democracy in media. They have no space for Indian civilisation but there is space for Karl Marx and Lenin”, he claimed.

    India’s right-wing has long disputed the concept of secularism as espoused by both western thinkers and Indian intellectuals who propound that the state needs to be equidistant from adherents of all religions.

    Sarma argued that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) the subject of the book being released, cannot give equal rights to Hindu and Muslim migrants from neighbouring countries.

    Referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act, Sarma said that two perspectives have evolved on the act.

    For protestors from outside Assam, the demand is that Hindu migrants alone should not be given citizenship, Muslim migrants too should be covered.

    In Assam, however, the protest against the Act focussed on a demand that neither Hindus nor Muslims from other countries should be given citizenship.

    “It was the so-called secular protestors at the national level who tried to give a communal colour to the entire protests”, he claimed.

    The CAA is for those “who are victims of partition and not for beneficiaries of a communal country created on the basis of religion”, he said, adding that if Muslim migrants from neighbouring countries could prove they had been discriminated against in their countries of origin, India would be willing to grant them citizenship.

    The CAA enacted in 2019 says Indian citizenship, may be granted to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians from neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who migrated to India before December 31, 2014 and had suffered “religious persecution or fear of religious persecution” in their country of origin.

    Opposition leaders have in the past when the act was being debated in Parliament, pointed out that several Islamic sects too face discrimination in neighbouring countries and that persecution could not be limited to only religious persecution, but could extend to political and social persecution too.

    Sarma argued there were concerns among Assamese people that if Bengali Hindu migrants who have migrated from Banglaesh post-March 1971, are regularised as Indian citizens, then the Assamese speaking people may turn into a minority in the state.

    “People are in deep confusion sometime we say language is our greatest strength, sometime we say civilisation is our strength. But if we see the election results from 2016 to 2021 people have said it loud and clear that civilisational issue is important and we want to protect our culture, religion and identity”, he claimed.

    Analysts have long pointed out that the BJPs twin moves to have a National Register of Citizens which strikes off the names of those the state doubts are its citizens and interns them in camps and to give Hindu Bengali migrants citizenship through the CAA are in a way an attempt to placate both Assamese and Bengali sentiments in the state, but end up being contradictory.

    This contradiction was exploited by leaders like Akhil Gogoi who led a movement in Assam against the CAA and founded a new party Rajyor Dal which attracted eyeballs though it did not fare well electorally.

    “I will remain a supporter of CAA but we will have to address the identity issues, protect our own culture and the Assamese people will (have to ) find a way out where they will balance everything and contribute to the nation building” , Sarma said.

  • No Muslim will face any loss due to CAA, says RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday said the Muslims in India would not face any loss due to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act or CAA.

    “CAA and NRC (National Register of Citizens) are not against Indian citizens. The Muslims in India are not going to suffer from any loss due to CAA,” Bhagwat said at a book release programme in Guwahati.

    According to the RSS chief, there are several methods for a country or a government to know its citizens and NRC was one of them.

    “This (NRC) is not against anybody. NRC was made a Hindu-Muslim issue but it is not. Such things happen (as some try) to gain political mileage,” Bhagwat said.

    He said it happened in every country that it tried to figure out its citizens. It is a matter of knowledge and information and it is the same in the case of people visiting another country, he said.

    “Every government in the world checks if the people, who arrived after obtaining a visa, are visiting the places they are supposed to. It also tries to find out who those people are who came without permission,” the RSS chief said.

    He said India would not have been partitioned if the views of the people were taken. He said the entire populace that fought to drive out the British had imagined the whole of “Bharat” to become one independent nation.

    “But there was division. The views of people were not taken for a consensus during partition. If their views were taken, there would never have been any partition. But the leaders decided and the public accepted it,” Bhagwat said.

    He added that due to that decision, some people lost their homes and hearth and it continued to this day.

  • Indian Leftists extreme than Karl Marx, should define secularism in context of  civilization: Assam CM

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday asserted that the concept of secularism needs to be defined in the context of ‘Indian civilisation’.

    Attacking Leftist intellectuals, liberals and the media, Sarma claimed the country’s intellectual society is still dominated by the left-liberals with the media giving them more space while ignoring alternate voices.

    “An intellectual terrorism has been unleashed and the Lefts in the country are more leftists than Karl Marx. There is no democracy in media… they have no space for Indian civilisation but there is space for Karl Marx and Lenin”, he claimed.

    Mediapersons may agree in private to an alternative narrative but they prefer giving space to left -liberals saying that this reflects an independent view, Sarma alleged.

    “The left thinking has to be challenged and more thought-provoking books based on history, of our long struggle for existence must be documented in the right perspective”, he said.

    The Chief Minister however did not specify how secularism would be defined in the context of Indian civilisation, though he asserted that India India has been a secular country since Rig Vedic times.

    “We have given the concept of secularism and humanity to the world. Our civilisation is five thousand years old and we have accepted diversity of thought, religion and culture since ages”, the Chief Minister said.

    Referring to the Citizenship Amendment Act, Sarma said that there are two perspectives on this- for protestors outside Assam, the demand is why should only Hindus be given citizenship, Muslim migrants should also be covered.

    In Assam, however, the protest against the Act was that neither Hindus nor Muslims from other countries should be given citizenship.

    “It was the so-called secular protestors at the national level who tried to give a communal colour to the entire protests”, he said.

    The CAA is for those “who are victims of partition and not beneficiaries of a communal country created on the basis of religion”, he said.

  • No Muslim will face any loss due to the citizenship law, says RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who is in Assam on a two-day visit, said on Wednesday that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) have nothing to do with Hindu-Muslim divide and communal narrative surrounding the two issues were being peddled by some to gain political mileage.

    He further emphasised that no Muslim will face any loss due to the citizenship law.

    “After independence, the first prime minister of the country had said that minorities will be taken care of, and that has been done so far. We will continue to do so. No Muslim will face any loss due to CAA,” Bhagwat said after launching a book here, titled ‘Citizenship debate over NRC and CAA-Assam and the Politics of History’.

    The citizenship law is will provide protection to persecuted minorities in the neighbouring countries, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief underlined.

    “We reach out to the majority communities, too, in these countries during a calamity… So if there are some who wish to come to our country due to threats and fear, we will definitely have to help them out,” Bhagwat said.

    Talking about NRC, he stated that all nations have the right to know who its citizens are.

    “The matter is in the political domain as the government is involved in it… A section of people wants to get political mileage by creative a communal narrative around these two issues,” he added.

  • Jailed activist-MLA Akhil Gogoi given clean chit in last case, freed

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI:  Assam’s activist-MLA Akhil Gogoi on Thursday walked to freedom after a special NIA court discharged him in the second of the two cases registered against him in connection with the December 2019 violence during the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in the state.

    The 45-year-old is staying in a paying cabin of the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital. He has some health-related issues.

    Gogoi was arrested based on two FIRs lodged with Chabua police station in Dibrugarh and Chandmari police station in Guwahati. The cases were filed under relevant sections of IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Act for alleged criminal conspiracy, sedition, promoting enmity between groups, assertions against national integrity, and support to a terrorist organisation (read CPI-Maoist).

    Last week, an NIA court had cleared him of the charges in the Chabua police station case.

    “He has been discharged in the Chandmari police station case today (Thursday),” Gogoi’s legal counsel Rahul Sensowa told journalists.

    Raijor Dal, the political party that Gogoi heads, slammed the government.

    “The government had conspired to put him behind the bar. It has now got exposed,” Raijor Dal working president, Bhasco de Saikia said.

    Three others, Dharjya Konwar, Manas Konwar, and Bitu Sonowal, who were arrested along with Gogoi but are out on bail, were also discharged on Thursday.

    Gogoi had contested the last Assembly elections from jail and managed to win from the Sibsagar seat. His mother Priyada Gogoi had campaigned for him despite her failing health and old age ailments.