Centre notifying rules for CAA is politically motivated: K’taka Home Minister

Bengaluru: The Centre notifying the rules for the Citizenship (Amendment) Act is ”politically motivated”, keeping the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in mind, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Monday said.

He said this move shows the BJP’s lack of confidence about winning more seats in the polls and coming to power.

”Today CAA guidelines and norms have been gazetted and published. I feel that it is not proper to comment without seeing its complete details. We have seen in 2019 that it was opposed by many. Despite that if the Central government has come to this decision, it has to be examined and looked into,” Parameshwara said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said, the Central government led by BJP has made several decisions keeping the elections in mind, and everyone knows and understands that this move is ”politically motivated”.

”Somewhere the BJP has a fear. Despite them claiming outside that they will win, it seems they have less confidence within about winning more seats and coming to power. So they are making such decisions,” he added.

The Centre on Monday announced the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, a move that comes four years after the contentious law was passed and paves the way for citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The rules were notified days ahead of the expected announcement of the Lok Sabha elections. With this, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants — Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians — from the three countries.