Union Minister Shantanu Thakur has announced that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, commonly referred to as the CAA, will be enforced across every state in India within the next seven days.
According to a report by news agency PTI, Thakur made this announcement during a public rally held in South 24 Parganas, West Bengal, on Sunday.
“The Ram mandir (temple) in Ayodhya has been inaugurated, and within the next seven days, the CAA will be implemented across the country. This is my guarantee. Not just in West Bengal, the CAA would be implemented in every state of India within a week,” stated BJP’s Lok Sabha MP from Bangaon.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, enacted by the Narendra Modi government, extends Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, comprising Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians, who have fled from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and entered India by December 31, 2014. Despite its passage through Parliament in December 2019 and subsequent presidential approval, the CAA incited widespread demonstrations across various parts of the country.
As per the PTI report, a senior government official disclosed that the regulations governing the CAA would be formally notified “much before” the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections.
The passage of the CAA by Parliament in December 2019, followed by its endorsement by the President, triggered a wave of protests across different regions of India. Despite the considerable delay spanning over four years, the actual implementation of the CAA necessitates the formulation of the corresponding regulations.