India's Gujarat government gave a big surprise before the assembly polls. India's Union Home Ministry has directed to grant citizenship to Bangladeshi, Afghan and Pakistani non-Muslims who have lived in Anand and Mehsana districts of the state for a minimum of five years. This is what is being said in the reports of the Indian media. But the opposition alleges that this announcement is nothing but a new move by the Modi government before the polls.
The BJP-ruled state of Gujarat is due for assembly polls next year. Ahead of that vote, the decision to grant citizenship to non-Muslims in three neighboring countries is believed to have political significance. Anti-BJP Congress, Trinamool Congress and Left Front have already protested on this issue.
Even though the NRC-CAA law has been passed across India, the BJP central government has not been able to implement the law in the face of severe obstacles from the ABJP government in the states. Even before the last assembly polls in West Bengal, the NRC-CAA issue was heavily discussed and criticized.
In addition to West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, the controversies have spread to states like Meghalaya-Odisha. Many non-Muslims from India's neighboring countries live in these states.
The Trinamool MP claimed that the decision to give citizenship to non-Muslims in Gujarat is just a 'vote gimmick' of the BJP government. Shantunu Sen. He said that the BJP has taken such a decision after realizing the face-down. Apart from this, the BJP government has come under severe criticism in the death of many people due to the collapse of the bridge in Gujarat. Such a decision to cover that.
This Trinamool leader also said, 'Those who have voted so far, those who have voter ID, are all Indian citizens. There is nothing to give them new citizenship.
In this regard, Pradesh Congress President and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Congress MP Adhir Chowdhury said, 'BJP has actually targeted a community called non-Muslims of India. This is their political strategy. BJP is actually more active in the politics of religion than the development of the country.'
Adhir Chowdhury mocked the tension between the BJP and the Trinamool over the citizenship issue before the assembly elections in West Bengal state, which is actually a 'Modi-Didi game'.
According to senior West Bengal Left Front leader Sujan Chakraborty, Narendra Modi is worried about the Gujarat vote. Therefore, he is thinking that there is a way to get votes. This citizenship issue is just one example of that.
But not only in Gujarat, assembly polls in several states of South India including Tripura next year. There is also the national election of 2024. Political analysts say that if citizenship to non-Muslims starts in Gujarat, the BJP government will want to introduce it in other states. As a result, there is a fear of new tension in Indian politics on this issue.
India's amended Citizenship Act was passed in 2019. It says that Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians who have taken refuge in India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till December 31, 2014 will get Indian citizenship.
