'Grave injustice, especially to Muslims': Owaisi on CAA rules report

AIMIM chief Asadduddin Owaisi called CAA anti-constitution and said that it is a law which has been made on the basis of religion

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Reacting to a report saying the Citizenship (Amendment) Act's rules would be notified before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asadduddin Owaisi said on Wednesday that it will be a grave injustice to the marginalised communities, especially Muslims.

He also said that the law that was passed in 2019 was "anti-constitutional" as it was formulated on the basis of religion.

"CAA is anti-constitution. It is a law which has been made on the basis of religion. CAA must be read with and understood with NPR-NRC, which will lay down the conditions to prove your citizenship in this country. If that happens it will be a grave injustice, especially to the Muslims, Dalits and the poor of India irrespective of the caste or religion they belong to," Owaisi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] general secretary Sitaram Yechury also stated that the Centre was attempting to foment communal polarisation ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

"Now it is clear. For all these years...these rules [CAA] were not notified...Clearly, they want to notify these rules just before the elections to use this as a political weapon to gain in the elections through sharpening communal polarisation. This is the clear-cut aim. This is utilising the rules, and declarations as a tool for some electoral gains," Yechury said.

CAA rules to be notified 'much before' Lok Sabha polls

According to news agency PTI, which cited an anonymous official, the CAA rules will be notified much before the announcement of the Lok Sabha elections, due later this year.

The law makes it simpler for non-Muslims – Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians – to obtain Indian citizenship if they immigrated to India before December 31, 2014.

"We are going to issue the rules for the CAA soon. Once the rules are issued, the law can be implemented and those eligible can be granted Indian citizenship," the official told PTI.