Tripura government to implement CAA (Citizenship (Amendment Act) amid opposition

AGARTALA: The BJP government in Tripura is preparing to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Chief Minister Manik Saha announced on Friday amid opposition from other political parties which fear the new law will trigger communal tensions in the state.

To recall, on March 11, the Centre notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2024, thus paving the way for enforcing the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians who came to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014.

Following the advice of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), a six-member state-level empowered committee with the Director of Census Operations as its chairman was formed in Tripura recently to grant citizenship under the CAA.

Director of Census Operations, Tripura, Rabindra Reang told that the district-level empowered committees would receive applications under the CAA, scrutinize and forward them to an empowered panel. Under the Act, those who want Indian citizenship under the CAA will have to apply to any of these district-level committees for consideration. Those living in areas under the Tribal Autonomous Council, which was constituted under the Sixth schedule of the Constitution, are not eligible to apply for citizenship, the official added further

Along with the opposition CPI-M and Congress, the Tipra Motha Party (TMP), a new ally of the BJP in the state, has also been opposing the CAA since the very beginning. TMP founder Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma on Friday doubted the implementation of CAA in its present form, as verifying the authenticity of the false documents with which outsiders have migrated into the state is a tough job. Hemce, implementation of CAA in its present form is not acceptable, he told the media.

Strongly opposing the BJP government’s decision, opposition leader and CPI-M state Secretary Jitendra Choudhury reiterated his party's longstanding opposition to the CAA. According to him, the CAA is being implemented now to divert attention from the electoral bond issue to divert attention from the electoral bond issue and to gain political mileage.

Congress MLA and former minister Sudip Roy Barman echoed similar concerns. Expressing sympathy with the persecuted minorities in the neighboring countries, Roy Barman said he fears that implementing CAA could reignite tribal insurgency in Tripura by further marginalizing the tribal community. (IANS)

Also Read: Tripura: Government Designates Officials to Committees for Implementing CAA (sentinelassam.com)

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