Assam: 3-month window likely for CAA application
January 16, 2020 22:53
The Centre may
give a relatively smaller window of just three months to those who want
to apply for Indian citizenship in Assam under the newly-enacted
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), officials said on Thursday.
Some
Assam specific provisions are expected to be incorporated in the rules
to be issued for the implementation of the CAA.
There is a
possibility of giving a smaller window of just three months for those
living in Assam to apply under the CAA, an official, privy to the
development, said.
The move came in view of the continuing
protests against the CAA in Assam where protests have been going on
since the legislation was passed by Parliament in December.
The
CAA rules are expected to be issued in next two weeks, the official
said.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and his Finance
Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met Union Home Minister Amit Shah last week
and made a request to keep a limited period window for applying under
the CAA and also incorporate some other Assam specific provisions in the
CAA rules.
Asked about the protests in Assam against the CAA,
Sarma told reporters at an event here on Thursday: "Wait for some time.
Some good news are coming."
According to the CAA, members of
Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have
come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014,
due to religious persecution there will not be treated as illegal
immigrants and given Indian citizenship.
Another official said,
an applicant will have to prove that he or she was a victim of religious
persecution besides proving that he or she has entered India before the
cut-off date of December 31, 2014.
The Assam specific provisions
in the CAA rules are expected as the state has been witnessing
widespread protests against the CAA.
There has been a growing
feeling among the indigenous people of Assam that the newly-enacted
legislation will hurt their interests politically, culturally as well as
socially.
The Assam Accord provides for detection and
deportation of all illegal immigrants, who have entered the country
after 1971 and are living in the state, irrespective of their
religion.
The protesters in Assam say that the CAA violates the
provisions of the Assam Accord. -- PTI