Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday assured minorities that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act is not meant to snatch anyone's citizenship, as he accused the Congress and other opposition parties of spreading misconception about the new law which has sparked protests in Kerala and Assam.
As Shah sought to allay apprehensions on the contentious CAA-2019 and declared that no Indian will lose citizenship due to it, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief M K Stalin said the CAA was divisive and will not be implemented in his state.
On Monday, Stalin's counterpart and CPI-M leader Pinarayi Vijayan said the act will not be put into effect in Kerala.
Stoutly defending CAA-2019 in the face of fresh opposition criticism, Shah accused All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi of lying that minorities will lose citizenship due to the new law and also indulging in vote-bank politics.
The CAA was implemented on Monday after the Modi government notified the rules four years after securing Parliament's approval.
The CAA seeks to grant citizenship for undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.
The Union home ministry also came out with a press statement to say that Indian Muslims need not worry as the CAA will not impact their citizenship and has nothing to do with the community which enjoys equal rights as their Hindu counterparts.
Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supported the implementation of CAA.
"The BJD welcomes the CAA as it is giving citizenship to the people and not taking away anyone's rights to live in the country," BJD MLA Parsuram Dhada said.
Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party booth workers' meeting in Hyderabad, Minister Shah hit out at those spreading misconception about CAA-2019, saying the law grants citizenship and would not take it away.
"...I want to tell the minorities of this country that no citizen of the country will lose citizenship due to CAA. The CAA is a law that grants citizenship and does not take away anyone's citizenship. I assure you there is no provision in CAA to snatch anyone's citizenship," he said.
Speaking at a BJP social media volunteers meeting, Shah alleged that the Congress party opposed the new citizenship law due to appeasement and vote-bank politics.
"We had said we will bring CAA. The Congress party opposed CAA. Since Independence it was a promise of the Congress and makers of our Constitution that citizenship will be granted to those persecuted on religious grounds in Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, who come (to India). But, due to appeasement and vote-bank politics, the Congress party opposed the CAA."
He said in order to save their faith and honour, lakhs and crores of people from Pakistan and Bangladesh came to India, but were not granted citizenship.
"They (refugees) felt insulted in their own country when they were not granted citizenship," he said, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi honoured Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Sikh refugees by granting them citizenship through the CAA.
The home ministry statement sought to allay fears of a section of Muslims and students regarding the CAA, making it clear 'no Indian citizen would be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this Act'.
"Indian Muslims need not worry as CAA has not made any provision to impact their citizenship and has nothing to do with the present 18 crore Indian Muslims, who have equal rights like their Hindu counterparts."
The ministry also launched a portal for people eligible to apply for Indian citizenship under the CAA, an official spokesperson said in Delhi.
Alleging that the CAA is against the Constitution, Owaisi said he would challenge it in the Supreme Court
A law cannot be made on the basis of religion and there are many Supreme Court judgments on it, the AIMIM leader added.
"... (it is) against the right to equality. You are giving permission (citizenship) to every religion, you are not giving to those whose religion is Islam," he told reporters.
An application was also filed by the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to stay the CAA's implementation till the pendency of petitions challenging its constitutional validity before the apex court.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the notified rules were 'ambiguous, unconstitutional and discriminatory'.
Addressing an official programme at Habra in North 24 Parganas district, Banerjee claimed the CAA was merely a precursor to implementing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) across the country and declared that her pledge to resist implementation of NRC in Bengal was the trigger to opposing the CAA.
"I urge the people to think several times before applying for citizenship under the law. That's because the rules provide no clarity on what happens to the status of existing citizens once they make a fresh application. I apprehend that existing citizens would automatically be first designated as illegal immigrants and then left at the mercy of the committee to grant them citizenship afresh."
The Communist Party of India-Marxist opposed the notification of CAA rules and claimed that it violates the secular principle of the Constitution by linking citizenship to religious identity.
In a statement, the Left party alleged that the implementation of the rules was linked to NRC and raised the apprehension that citizens of Muslim origin would be targeted.
Protests against the implementation of the CAA erupted across Assam with effigies of Modi, Shah and copies of the law being burnt.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said he will be the first to resign even if one person, who has not applied for the NRC in the state, gets citizenship.
"I am a son of Assam and if a single person who has not applied for NRC in the state gets citizenship, I will be the first to resign."
Protesters in Assam are claiming that lakhs of people will enter the state after the implementation of the CAA.
Protests against the CAA also erupted in various parts of Kerala, as both the LDF and the UDF organised marches towards Central government institutions to condemn the decision.
But BJP state president K Surendran alleged that the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and Congress-led United Democratic Front are dividing the people under the cover of the CAA.
Senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar criticised Vijayan, alleging the chief minister was misleading the public.
BJP Tamil Nadu unit president K Annamalai said Stalin has 'no powers' under the law of the land to take a stand against implementing the CAA in the state.
Senior advocate Vikas Singh when asked about state governments' powers was of the view that they can't directly say they will not implement CAA.
Students' groups at Jamia Millia Islamia in the national capital protested against the implementation of CAA and demanded that the Centre withdraw the law.
