CAA against Constitution, says Digvijaya; accuses BJP of divisive politics

Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said the Citizenship Amendment Act was against the Constitution and accused the ruling BJP of ''dividing every issue between Hindus and Muslims''.

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.

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.

''The first thing is why there was so much delay. If there was delay then what was the problem (in implementing it) after the elections? Their (BJP's) only objective is to divide every issue between Hindus and Muslims, Rajya Sabha MP Singh told reporters.

The Constitution gives everyone the right to practice their religion and ''therefore, if any law decides on the basis of religion who can become a citizen and who cannot, then in my opinion it is against the Constitution'', he asserted.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently got the president's assent but there were protests in several parts of the country against it, with many opposition parties speaking out against the law calling it ''discriminatory''.

The law could not come into effect as rules had not been notified till now.