NEW DELHI, Dec 5 - The BJP-led government at the Centre is likely to start giving citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshi refugees from January, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said.
�The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed by the Parliament. The Act is being opposed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and others, and has even gone to the Supreme Court. It has been decided by the BJP that Bangladeshi refugees will be given citizenship from January 2021,� he told newsmen.
�Bangladeshi refugees will be given citizenship from January by the BJP government. Those people of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan who have fled because of religious persecution there and have taken shelter here will be given citizenship. Whatever we have promised will be delivered,� the BJP general secretary in-charge of West Bengal said.
The CAA has not been implemented since the rules have not been notified as yet. The government has not indicated to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Subordinate Legislation when it proposed to forward the Act for framing of the rules, after which it can be formally notified. The last date for submission of the notification expired on November 3.
BJP MP Bhubaneswar Kalita, who once served as the chairman of the Subordinate Legislation Committee, said there is a provision that the government can directly notify the rules of the Act and later submit it to the Parliamentary Committee for scrutiny.
Further, the committee can also summon the Act for scrutiny, if it so desires after it is notified by the government, he said.
Recently, there was a controversy after a four-page document went viral on Twitter claiming that the government had notified the rules. It was later denied by the government with the Press Information Bureau describing it as �fake news�.
