Just two days before the final polling phase in West Bengal, the process of granting citizenship to Hindu migrants has begun. The State’s empowered committee—the final authority under the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024—approved the first set of applications. This marks a significant step in the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rollout in the Trinamool Congress-ruled state.
Similar sets of applications were approved on May 28 in Haryana and Uttarakhand by their respective empowered committees. The process in Delhi commenced earlier, with the Union Home Secretary distributing the first set of certificates to applicants on May 15, 2024. Digitally signed certificates were also issued via email.
The initiation of citizenship grants in West Bengal comes despite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s stern opposition following the notification of CAA rules in March this year. Banerjee had criticized the notification as an election gimmick, warning that discrimination based on religion, caste, or language would not be accepted. “They (central government) won’t be able to give citizenship to anyone in two days. This is just lollipop and show-off,” she had remarked.
In West Bengal, the rollout of citizenship under the CAA is particularly notable given the State’s political landscape. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been a vocal critic of the CAA, warning against any form of discrimination and dismissing the notification of CAA rules as an election gimmick. However, the structure of the empowered committees, dominated by Union Government officials, leaves the state government with limited ability to block the citizenship process.
The grant of citizenship in West Bengal fulfils a key manifesto promise made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the 2019 general elections, particularly aiming to benefit the Matua community. This community, which migrated from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) to West Bengal after India’s partition, has advocated implementing the CAA. Their support was instrumental in the BJP’s success in the 2019 elections, where the party won 18 of West Bengal’s 42 Lok Sabha seats.
The Union government commenced the process of granting citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) in West Bengal, Haryana, and Uttarakhand on May 29. This marks a significant development in the implementation of the CAA, which was enacted in December 2019 to provide Indian nationality to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Parsi, and Christian migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014.
According to a statement from the Union Home Ministry, West Bengal, Haryana, and Uttarakhand applicants received citizenship on May 29 from their respective State Empowered Committees. This follows the first set of citizenship certificates, which the Union Home Secretary granted in New Delhi on May 15, 2024, after the notification of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.
This second tranche of citizenship certificates comes just days before the final voting phase for the Lok Sabha elections on June 1. Several constituencies in West Bengal are set to vote in this final phase on Saturday, with the counting of votes scheduled for June 4.
The CAA rules, which were delayed for over four years, were finally issued on March 11, 2024. These rules outline the application process, procedures for processing applications by the District Level Committee (DLC), and the scrutiny and grant of citizenship by the State Level Empowered Committee (SLEC). The entire process is conducted through an online portal.
The enactment of the CAA in 2019 sparked widespread protests nationwide, with critics labelling the law as discriminatory. Over a hundred people lost their lives during the anti-CAA protests or due to police action. Despite the controversy, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has consistently asserted that the CAA will be implemented, emphasising that it is the land law. He has also accused the opposition of misleading the public on this issue.
