Citizenship Amendment Act: BJP girds up to wrestle Mamata Banerjee on Bengal turf

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, March 11: Ahead of the announcement of the poll dates for the Lok Sabha elections, the Centre on Monday notified the rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). With the cut-off date of December 31, 2014, the people except Muslims from the neighboring Islamic countries will get a channel to become Indian citizens.

The CAA rules will exempt the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Tripura where ‘Inner Line’ system is prevalent as under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873. The beneficiaries will be from Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Parsi, and Jain religions.

The CAA was enacted by parliament in December 2019, and since then the law had invited strong protests, including the Shaheen Bagh sit-ins for months, which had given up only after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have hit the grounds running after the notification of the CAA Rules, saying “Jo kaha so kiya (did what we said)”.

In anticipation of the implementation of the CAA, massive protests are reported to be taking place in Assam and others parts of the Northeastern states. But the BJP hopes to ride on the CAA to wrestle with the incumbent West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The BJP had built the poll narrative in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, as well as the state Assembly poll afterwards, on the plank of the CAA. The BJP had won 18 of the total 42 Lok Sabha seats from West Bengal in 2019, but the saffron outfit had failed to repeat the euphoria in the Assembly polls.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said that his state will not be implementing the rules. Banerjee has said that the implementation of the CAA Rules is a political showpiece.

“Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will be notifying today, the Rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA-2019). These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for grant of Indian citizenship,” said the MHA in a post on the social media platform X.

The BJP hopes to build the poll narrative on the CAA Rules in West Bengal with hopes for polarization of the Matua vote base. But the BJP is also wary of the backlash in Assam, and other Northeastern states. The delay in the notification of the CAA Rules had previously been explained to strong protest in Assam. The paramilitary forces are staging flag marches in several parts of the Northeastern states to deal with any untoward incidents.   

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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