Over four years after its initial announcement sparked intense protests and weeks before the country goes to polls, India on Monday announced the implementation of the rules of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The 2019 law offers citizenship to Hindu, Parsi, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, and Christian refugees from neighboring countries who entered India before Dec. 31, 2014. However, the highly controversial list leaves out Muslims.
The notification of the Citizenship Amendment Act's (CAA) rules is a bad-faith, shockingly anti-Muslim ploy the Narendra Modi government has played on India, especially coming so close to the national election. Modi is looking to turn poor people from neighboring countries into a guaranteed voter base for his party. Millions of Indians oppose CAA strongly and their fury will be reflected in the upcoming polls.
The notification of CAA rules is a bold and timely move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, fulfilling another of the promises he made to the country. Along with the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and freeing Kashmir from the clutches of Article 370, this is a milestone achieved. All the fear-mongering that has followed the enactment of the law is unfounded and needs to be called out.