Decode Politics: There, yet not there, the whys and hows of the missing CAA

This commitment, however, has been repeated multiple times since the passage of the law by Parliament in December 2019 — particularly in Bengal, where the CAA is seen as a ray of hope by many Bangladeshi Hindu migrants. Yet, there is no sight of the rules from the side of the Ministry Home Affairs (MHA). The Centre has so far availed of eight extensions of the date to frame the rules.

Hence, even as the BJP keeps referring to it, the law remains enacted but not implemented.

How was the CAA announcement greeted?

Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, on December 11, 2019, and received the President’s assent a day later. The government then said that the Act would come into force from January 10, 2020.

While introducing the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah said the Bill gives a new ray of hope to persons belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have migrated to India “after facing persecution on the ground of religion” in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. Shah reiterated that the Bill was not against any minority in India. However, opponents pointed out that it excluded only Muslims.

Soon after the passage of the law, widespread protests broke out across the country. Read alongside the government’s plan to conduct a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC) enumeration, the CAA was perceived as an attempt to deprive Muslims of Indian citizenship.

On December 9, 2019, during a debate on the Act in Parliament, Shah said: “We don’t need to set a background for the NRC. We will bring the NRC across the country. Not a single infiltrator will be spared.”

Shah also said at rallies and press conferences that a nationwide NRC would follow the CAA, adding, “aap chronology samajhiye (understand the chronology)”.

What explains the delay?

Multiple reasons are attributed to the government dragging its feet on the implementation of one of the most polarising pieces of legislation brought by the Modi government. One of the prime reasons is the vociferous opposition faced by the CAA in states such as Assam and Tripura, ruled by the BJP, where even Hindus protested against the legislation.

In fact, the first protests started in Assam, fuelled by the fear that the legislation would permanently alter the demographics of the state. The CAA is seen in Assam as a violation of the 1985 Assam Accord, which stipulated that only those foreigners who settled in Assam before March 24, 1971, be included as citizens. The cut-off date for citizenship to be extended under the CAA is December 31, 2014.

In Tripura, a once-tribal dominated state where now Bengalis (most of them migrants) are a majority, the CAA sparked similar fears.

Soon, the protests didn’t remain confined to the Northeast, but spread to other parts of the country. Many civil rights groups lent their support, with the anger over the CAA blending in with other fears of the Muslim community, and characterised as another anti-democratic measure by the Modi government. Invocations of the Indian Constitution and the Tricolour were a routine feature at these protests. One such protest, led by women and children in Shaheen Bagh of Delhi, lasted for over 100 days.

In the crackdown by authorities on the protests, dozens of people were killed in police firing in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere. The tensions built over the protests ultimately culminated in the Delhi riots of February 2020. It was only after the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 that the protests ended.

What has the government said since?

Amidst the protests, which were also covered widely in the international media, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a public address at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on December 22, 2019, days after the Act had been passed, said his government had not discussed the NRC since coming to power.

That the Delhi riots happened during the visit of then US President Donald Trump to India didn’t help. Various international democracy and freedom indices began dropping India lower in their lists, discomfiting the BJP that aims to project Modi as a “global leader”.

Heat was also felt from diplomatic quarters. The Sheikh Hasina regime in Bangladesh, one of the closest allies of India in the region, felt the pressure of domestic opinion in her own country given the rhetoric around the law and the violence that followed. “We don’t understand why (the Indian government) did it. It (CAA) was not necessary,” Hasina said in an interview to Gulf News in 2020.

The same year Modi’s visit to Bangladesh was greeted by protests.

Amidst a growing Chinese influence in the region, and shifting power poles, the Indian government presumably didn’t want to offend allies.

Concerns were also flagged by top IPS officers at the annual Director General’s Conference chaired by the PM last year. Emphasising the impact of the CAA, a paper by an IPS officer said, “Dhaka apprehends that India will push all illegal foreigners towards Bangladesh under the National Register of Citizens (NRC). Immediately after passing the CAA, Beijing has allowed 97% of Bangladesh’s exports to China under its duty free and quota free program.”

Another paper by an IPS officer from the North East flagged the possibility of growing proximity between China and Bangladesh vis-a-vis the CAA. “India is on good terms with the current regime (in Bangladesh) but if the past is any indicator, the Chinese can fuel the latent ‘anti India’ sentiment and even nudge any future Islamist government under BNP to openly tilt towards China. Sorting out bilateral irritants like Teesta, CAA etc. can also go a long way in earning goodwill for India,” his paper said.

What are the rules regarding passage of law?

Under the Constitution, ordinarily, rules, regulations, and bye-laws regarding an Act are to be framed within six months from the date on which it comes into force. Post that, the ministry concerned can seek an extension from the Parliamentary Committees on Subordinate Legislation. The reason for the extension needs to be stated. Such extensions may be granted for a maximum period of three months at a time.

To ensure monitoring, every ministry is required to prepare a quarterly report on the status of subordinate legislation not framed and share it with the Ministry of Law and Justice. These reports are not available in the public domain.