Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the BJP is determined to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act and it is about time that its rules are framed. He told the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit here that it is a legitimate right of a Hindu to become a citizen in his motherland and the BJP stands firmly with the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA).
When asked why the rules for the Act had not been framed yet, Sarma said that people were protesting against the CAA and after that, coronavirus Epidemic came. “It is in process, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is committed. Parliament has passed the law, it is a matter of time when you see the rules of CAA,” he said.
The chief minister also rejected the argument that the saffron party is using it as an election plank, saying those who would vote because of the CAA would not account for two to three parliamentary seats in the country’s landscape.
“CAA is part of our commitment, it is part of our ideology. We will implement it. Someone asked ‘where is Ram Mandir, when will it come’, you have just seen Ram Mandir, someone asked ‘when will Article 370 go away’, went away. The way you will see UCC (Uniform Civil Code) coming, similarly you will see CAA coming.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act seeks to provide Indian citizenship to non-Muslims – Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians – coming from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The CAA was passed by Parliament on December 11, 2019, and received the President’s assent the next day. After this the Ministry of Home Affairs issued its notification.
However, the law is yet to be implemented as the rules under the CAA are yet to be framed. For its implementation, rules will have to be made under the law.
Sarma also criticized his former party Congress for electing Mallikarjun Kharge as its chief and said that if Shashi Tharoor had won the election for the post, he would have said that democracy has come to Congress.
Talking about those who voted for Tharoor in the elections, Sarma said that there are very good thinking people in the Congress and they will soon join the BJP.
“These 1,000 people voted for Shashi Tharoor, I think they will join the BJP in six months or a year,” he claimed.
Rejecting the argument that the BJP does not conduct democratic internal elections, Sarma said that any BJP president has to go through a democratic process and that person cannot be controlled remotely.
Sarma also said that in 2024, the BJP will expand to two-three states and this expansion will continue till the next two elections.
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