(Courtesy Tripura Times )
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is set to make headlines as the Central government is likely to notify the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) before the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into play ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Recently IANS reported, “Earlier this month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that the CAA would be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections this year. Now, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) could notify the CAA rules any time before MCC comes into effect.”
The CAA issue sparked protests in Tripura and other parts of the country. Founder of the State’s main opposition, TIPRA Motha Party (TMP) Pradyot Kishore Debbarman vehemently opposed the implementation of the CAA. He claimed the Northeastern States especially Tripura, Meghalaya and Assam were ‘suffering from the illegal Bangladeshi migrants’ issue and implementation of the CAA would aggravate the problem. He even moved the Supreme Court against the CAA.
However, according to the Government Gazette, the apprehension of the TMP leader was baseless as the CAA would not be implemented in the ADC areas of the North East region formed under the 6th Schedule of the Constituency including the TTAADC.
As per the Gazette notification of the Government, “Nothing in this section shall apply to tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the sixth schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under ‘The Inner Line’ notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873”.
Earlier, Home Minister Shah had reiterated the act’s objective, emphasizing its humanitarian intent to grant citizenship solely to those subjected to persecution in the neighbouring nations.
“There is misinformation and incitement targeting our Muslim brothers regarding the CAA. The CAA is solely meant to grant citizenship to people, who sought refuge in India due to persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, and it does not aim to deprive anyone of their Indian citizenship,” Shah had said.
