Omkar Dattatray
Finally the Ministry of Home Affairs of the government of India has notified the rules regarding the most important piece of legislation the CAA .The law of CAA has come into effect today on 11th of March 2024.But as usual the political parties have stated the petty politics over CCA and said it is timed wrongly .The chief of AIMIM Asssudin Owasi has said that the BJP government has enforced and notified the CAA with the aim of polarization and gaining the electoral dividends and the government has notified the CAA rules just before the general elections only with the objective of political gain .Owasi has further said that the rules of CAA have been notified before the elections to create communal division in the country and to polarize the political situation .It is very sad that the various political parties have started cheap politics on this important legislation for their political convenience and for minority appeasement. .Jairam Ramesh of congress has criticized the central government and the notification saying that it has been timed with the elections in view and same has been said by the SP leader and its chief Akleish Yadav .Digvijay Singh of congress has said that the CAA will create division among Hindus and Muslims in the country .The Trinamool congress chief and the chief minister of West Bengal Mamta Banerjee has said that she will not allow the enforcement of CAA in Bengal .In a federal set up there should be no clashes between the state and the centre government. Technically Mamata Banerjee cannot create hindrance to the CAA in her state .The CAA comes under the centre list and it is in the jurisdiction of the centre government and to be specific is the domain of MHA and no state can obstruct its enforcement and the chief ministers are required not to politicize the CAA notification and instigate the people especially the Muslims as Mamata Banerjee has gone to the extent of saying that the Muslims of his state need not to worry as she will not allow the UCC in Bengal .The INDI opposition alliance has commented that the BJP government has issued the notification about CAA in order to distract the attention of the gullible people from the mundane issues and concerns facing them.Thus according to the opposition bloc the CAA has been notified to deflect the attention of the people from real and practical issues .According to INDI bloc the BJP has nothing to offer to the people and thus they are raising emotional issues before the general elections. It is the irony of this land that each and every thing is politicized and unfortunately same is the case with CAA and NCR .In this plural and secular country everything is sadly seen through the prism of Hindu-Muslim while the right course is that the things and government decisions should be viewed through the prism of secularism and communal harmony .But unfortunately this is seldom done in our country and thus unnecessary issues and problems take birth which are against the national unity and integrity and same has been the case with the important legislation called CAA .In the past we have seen much unwanted violence ,hue and cry as well as the unprecedented protests over CAA which should not be the case now as the people especially the Muslims know it well that the CAA will not take out or deprive any citizen from his or her citizenship as CAA has no provision to snatch the citizenship of any person and more so of the Muslims .The political parties should not instigate the minorities of this country against CAA for their vote bank politics and for appeasement politics .The gullible Muslims should not be incited against the CAA as it is not against the Muslims but it is an act to provide the citizenship rights to the persecuted non -Muslim refugees from Pakistan ,Bangladesh and Afghanistan. So there should be no unwanted noises about the law in question .People should not take law into their hands and should maintain peace ,tranquility and communal harmony .The people of the Muslim community should know and appreciate that CAA is aimed to end the injustice and discrimination with the persecuted non-Muslim refugees and thus our Muslim brothers and sisters should desist from creating violence on CAA as it is not against the Muslims in any way and it will not snatch the citizenship from any Muslim as they are also first class citizens of this country and they cannot and should not be discriminated in the secular democracy of the country .At the same time it can be said that Citizenship Amendment Act & National Register of Citizens (NRC) are the most debatable topics in the current times ,have generated a lot of passionate ”Procon ”responses and even lead to unwanted violence and this should not be the case now since the people especially the Muslim minority has understood that CAA is not against them in any way and so there is greater possibility that the Muslims this time will not be carried away by emotions and should not allow themselves to be used as pawns by the greedy and selfish politicians .First and foremost thing is that this law is not about the Indians and so why there has been so much hue and cry and Hullabaloo on CAA by Indians .Wasn’t all the laid down processes and mechanism followed before rolling it out? Short answer is Yes! Finally, if the CAA is not for Indians then why were there protests by Indians? True any determination based on religion may seem contrary to the constitutions secular commitment .But this is a formality. Indians can be secular in conduct and attitude without the fig-leaf of a label .It is even more ridiculous to claim that the measures will disenfranchise Indian Muslims .Even if all 19 million Bangladeshi and Pakistani Hindus are accommodated ,they could not possibly displace 200 million Indian Muslims who are entrenched in this country’s soil ,culture and history. Perhaps the measure does to an extent demonize the governments of Pakistan and Bangladesh ,but it is no more than they deserve for persistent ill -treatment of their minorities .In brief now there should be no hullaballoo on the enforcement and implementation of the CAA as no power on the earth can undo this important piece of legislation and it is thus hoped that there will be now no hue and cry over CAA.
(The author is a columnist,
social and KP activist).
