GUWAHATI: A day after State BJP President Ranjeet Dass confirmed that the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 will be implemented in the state, National BJP President JP Nadda while releasing the party manifesto at Guwahati today stated that CAA will be implemented in letter and spirit.
The BJP today released the party manifesto for 2021 in presence of senior leaders of the state and centre. The party is making 10 commitments to help Assam transform in the next five years.
Even though the party refrained from speaking about CAA, however, on being asked by the media, JP Nadda said, "CAA has been passed by Parliament. It is to be implemented and it will be implemented in letter and spirit."
Among others the BJP also promised to working towards a "corrected NRC", which would protect "genuine Indian citizens" and "detect infiltrated people". Nadda says, "We will work on a corrected NRC for Assam's protection. We will protect genuine Indian citizens and detect infiltrators to ensure the Ahom civilization stays safe."
It needs to be mentioned with just a few days left in the Assam Assembly Election, the BJP leaders including the bigwigs from the party who have been campaigning here in Assam have refrained from mentioning the CAA.
A day before State president Dass asserted that the implementation of the Act is an "ideological commitment of the BJP", and there is no stepping back in regard to the implementation of the same.
In 2019, CAA was made law after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent. The law seeks to give citizenship status to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians fleeing religious persecution from neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and who came to India on or before December 31, 2014. Soon after the passing of the Act the state has witnessed a massive protest, that later amplified to other parts of the nation including the national capital.
Although the Bill became an Act in 2019, the implementation of the same was delayed due to the pandemic. Earlier in February, the Ministry of Home Affairs had informed the Lok Sabha that the Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, had been in force since January 10, 2020, but rules were "under preparation".
The Ministry further informed that The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have granted an extension of time up to April 9 and July 9, respectively, to frame these rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019,