New Delhi : Speculation is in deep inside the BJP itself, Amit Shah’s Home Ministry will make the CAA rule after the five states vote? The rule making of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is likely only after the assembly polls of the five states are settled. Amit Shah’s Home Ministry can take this step to ensure the votes of the refugees in next year’s Lok Sabha elections. BJP promised citizenship to refugees to come to power in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. For the seventh time this February, the Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the Parliamentary Secretariat for rule making time. After Modi came to power for the second time in 2019, the two houses of Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).
But the Narendra Modi government is in favour of implementing the CAA to bring the votes of the refugee community back into ballot box in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Therefore, the central government can join hands in this work once assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram are over. Shah’s ministry is responsible for making the CAA rules. As the matter has been pending for four years, anger has built up among sections of the refugee community. A large section of the Matua community in West Bengal has already expressed anger over the non-promulgation of the CAA. According to north 24 Parganas, Bangaon’s Thakurbari sources, Union Minister of State for Shipping Shantanu Thakur has also spoken to the BJP’s central leadership on this matter. Asim Sarkar, the MLA from Haringhata of Matua community, again publicly said, “Unless the rule of the Citizenship Amendment Act is made, I will not be able to seek votes for the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections”, all such matter reached Shah’s office through the state leadership. Recently, when a state BJP leader inquired about this from the Union Home Minister, sources said that he had promised to make a rule by the end of this year.
Therefore, between the INDIA and the NDA rift, CAA can be a big tool to secure votes for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. After coming to power for the second time in 2019, the CAB was passed by the Modi government. According to that law, if religious minorities (Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians) of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan want to take refuge in this country due to religious persecution, India will give them citizenship. In Uttar Pradesh and a few other states has also given resettlement for this kind of refugees and Matua Community is residing all over the Country.
Opposition parties are raising Voice as to why the Minority Community’s and the name of the Muslim community are not included in this list. The Center passed the bill without paying attention to the complaints of the opposition. Even though, the matter has been in the cold storage for so long, the BJP wants to ensure now the refugee vote before the Lok Sabha polls by making a rule once the polls in the four states are over.
However, when the law was passed, there were angry protests in different areas across the state. But it could not block the passage of the bill in the parliament. This time, in terms of making rules, whether there is any new unrest in Bengal or not, the politicians of the national politics will keep an eye on that. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has publicly announced her opinion for the CAA. Therefore, if the CAA rule is implemented, her conflict with the BJP is inevitable, the experts of the national politics thinks.
