By: Dil Bar Irshad
Sukanta Majumdar, the Chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal, has affirmed that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be enforced across India. This act, approved by the Indian Parliament in December 2019, seeks to provide a pathway to Indian citizenship for persecuted religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014. The CAA, however, has been at the center of national contention, sparking widespread protests and stimulating debates over its constitutionality and potential impact on India’s secular fabric.
The CAA and its Provisions
The CAA, aimed at protecting religious minorities in neighboring countries, specifically applies to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, excluding Muslims. The act has been seen as discriminatory by opposition parties and various civil society groups, who argue that it undermines the secular principles of the Indian constitution by making religion a criterion for citizenship.
This story was originally published in bnnbreaking.com. Read the full story here .