By taking up the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) challenge before the Supreme Court, the supremo of AIMIM, Asaduddin Owaisi, has highlighted his difficulties related to CAA. In one of his recent moves, Owaisi filed a petition, which, if granted, is expected to stop the implementation of the CAA in 2019. In ANI’s reports, Owaisi argues that the authorities should not entertain and handle applications applying for the grant of citizenship status under the route stated in section 6B of the amended Citizenship Act during the proceedings.
The CAA was brought in by Parliament in December 2019, and controversy over its implementation has been public since its launch. Over 200 petitions related to the CAA have been submitted to the Supreme Court to contest different parts of the Law. The application stage will take place on March 19, and the court is expected to address this current issue that day.
The proponents of CAA have questioned its constitutionality, and its alleged violation of basic principles of secularism narrated in the Indian Constitution. In contrast, the opponents have raised critical concerns against the Bill. They suggest that by leaving out the Muslim population from the ambit of the act and by connecting citizenship to religious identification, the law weakens the foundation of the country, which is secularism.
Muslims such as Asaduddin Owaisi describe the CAA as an electrocardiogram and have initiated their critics, pointing out that laws cannot be drafted based on religious grounds. Hence, he argues that the CAA violates the Right to Equality and refers to the Supreme Court’s judgment supporting his assertion.
However, the government has repeatedly defended the CAA by saying that its real objective is to provide citizenship rather than take it away from relevant people. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has made known that CAA will not be forced to accept it, and they will quietly continue its implementation.
The upcoming hearing of the apex court on this subject will be one of the landmarks that shall determine the future of the CAA and its impact on citizenship rights in India.
