CM Siddaramaiah opposes religion-based citizenship

Chamarajanagar: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said he is opposed to ‘religion-based citizenship.’

The Chief Minister accused the BJP of introducing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) keeping the elections in mind.

“Why did they do it when elections were around? They have done it for the elections. We oppose religion-based citizenship,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Centre on Monday announced the implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 for granting citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

With the CAA rules being issued, 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.