The Supreme Court has agreed to hear pleas seeking a stay on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019, the controversial legislation that was implemented earlier this week. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal raised the issue before Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, who promptly scheduled its listing for March 19.
Over 200 petitions, filed in the top court since 2019, have contested various provisions of the CAA. Enacted to expedite citizenship for non-Muslim refugees fleeing religious persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014, the law has been a subject of intense scrutiny and debate.
Although passed by the Parliament in December 2019, the Centre on Monday notified The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, implementing the law across the country under which non-Muslim migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan fleeing religious persecution can seek Indian citizenship. Persons from Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian communities from these countries, who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, can seek citizenship under the law.
However, this move was met with staunch criticism from Opposition leaders, branding the notified rules as “unconstitutional” and “discriminatory,” citing concerns about their violation of the secular principle of citizenship enshrined in the Constitution. They also questioned the timing of the Act’s implementation just weeks before the Lok Sabha elections.
Critics of the CAA argue that by excluding Muslims from its provisions and tethering citizenship to religious identity, the law fundamentally undermines the secular fabric of the Indian Constitution.
The Centre has defended the CAA, underlining its sole objective of granting citizenship and assuring that no citizen of the country will lose their citizenship rights. Union Home Minister Amit Shah reiterated this stance, asserting that the CAA is an integral aspect of India”s sovereign prerogative, unequivocally stating that it will not be revoked.
“This is our sovereign right to ensure Indian citizenship in our country, we will never compromise on it and CAA will never be taken back,” Shah said in an interview with a news agency. “The opposition has no other work. They have a history of saying one thing and doing another. However, the history of Prime Minister Modi and the BJP is different. What BJP or PM Modi says is like carved in stone. Every guarantee made by Modi is fulfilled.”
