The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) announced that the process of granting citizenship under the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has started in West Bengal, Haryana, and Uttarakhand. On Wednesday, empowered committees in these states issued the first batch of citizenship certificates to eligible individuals.
This development coincides with the upcoming seventh phase of voting for the Lok Sabha elections, scheduled for June 1. The elections will be held in the Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, and Kolkata Uttar parliamentary constituencies across West Bengal.
After notifying the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, on March 11, the MHA started issuing the first set of citizenship certificates on May 15 in Delhi, awarding approximately 300 citizenships on the first day.
The CAA grants citizenship to persecuted minorities from Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014.
“The process of granting citizenship certificates under the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 has now commenced in the state of West Bengal, where the first set of applications from the State were today granted citizenship by the Empowered Committee, West Bengal. Similarly, the Empowered Committees of the states of Haryana and Uttarakhand have also granted citizenship today to the first set of applicants in their respective States, under the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024,” the MHA stated on Wednesday.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed in December 2019, but the necessary rules were not initially established. Its enactment sparked protests that only subsided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, while several related petitions are still pending before the Supreme Court.
The CAA aligns with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s 2019 manifesto promise but has faced criticism from opposition parties, who associated it with election tactics.
Several opposition leaders, including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, have opposed the CAA, arguing that it infringes on constitutional rights.
On May 14, Union Home Minister Amit Shah asserted that Mamata Banerjee would not be able to halt the implementation of the CAA.
According to the CAA rules, refugees from six minority communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan who seek citizenship through registration or naturalization must submit an application, an affidavit verifying the accuracy of their statements, a second affidavit from an Indian citizen attesting to their character, and a declaration that they are proficient in one of the languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
The rules stipulate that the application must be submitted electronically to an empowered committee via the district-level committee, which may be designated by the central government. The application should be supported by documents such as a copy of the passport issued by the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh, a birth certificate, any other identity document, land or tenancy records, or any document demonstrating that either of the applicant’s parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were citizens of one of these three countries.
The rules specify that these documents will be accepted even if they are beyond their validity period.
Applicants must also provide evidence that they entered India before December 31, 2014. This can be in the form of a visa and immigration stamp, a registration certificate from the Foreigners Regional Registration Officer (FRRO), a slip issued by Census enumerators in India, or any government-issued license, certificate, or permit in India (such as a driving license, Aadhaar number, ration card, or marriage certificate issued in India, etc.).