NEW DELHI: The Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, allow the final authority to grant citizenship to citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who belong to six specified religious minorities there.
Earlier this week, ahead of the final phase of the Lok Sabha election, the process of granting citizenship to Hindu migrants in West Bengal commenced under the state’s empowered committee. The Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, now allow the final authority to grant citizenship to citizens of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who belong to six specified religious minorities, with the first set of applications being approved.
The rollout of citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the Trinamool Congress-ruled state occurred despite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s warning when the CAA rules were notified in March this year. Banerjee asserted that she would oppose their implementation if they discriminated against any group. “If there is any discrimination, we won’t accept it, be it religion, caste, or linguistic. They (the central government) won’t be able to give citizenship to anyone in two days. This is just a lollipop and show-off,” she had said, dismissing the notification of CAA rules as an election gimmick.
The state-level empowered committee and district-level committees under the CAA rules are primarily composed of central government officials, with only one state government representative included as an invitee, limiting the state government’s ability to block citizenship requests. The quorum for both committees is two members, including the chair.
The grant of the first set of citizenship certificates in West Bengal fulfils a manifesto promise made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 general election and aims to benefit many from the Matua community. This community migrated to West Bengal in waves after India’s Partition from what was then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. The community had been demanding the implementation of the CAA, which was passed in 2019 but only had its rules notified on March 11 this year.
Political analysts in West Bengal noted that the Matua community supported the BJP in the 2019 elections, contributing to the party’s victory in 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats. This support is expected to influence the 2024 parliamentary election results, which will be announced on June 4.
Similar to West Bengal, the first sets of applications were also approved in Haryana and Uttarakhand by their respective empowered committees. In Delhi, the process of granting citizenship by the empowered committee began earlier, with the Union Home Secretary handing over the first set of certificates to applicants on May 15, 2024, with digitally signed certificates issued via email.