Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi, the President of the All India Muslim Jamaat, has defended the implementation of India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which was previously viewed by some as an ‘anti-Islam’ move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
However, one of India’s Muslim leaders has stated that the policy will not affect the citizenship status of Indian Muslims.
“The Indian government has implemented the CAA law. I welcome this law. This should have been done earlier, but better late than never. There is a lot of misunderstanding among Muslims about this law. This law has nothing to do with Muslims. Previously, there was no law that granted citizenship to non-Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who faced religious persecution,” Maulana Razvi Bareilvi said, as quoted by NDTV.
He believes that there has been a deliberate misunderstanding created by Indian politicians among the Muslim community in India.
“Millions of Indian Muslims will not be affected at all by this law. This law will not revoke the citizenship of any Muslim. In recent years, there have been protests, that’s because of misunderstanding. Some political figures have created misunderstandings among Muslims. Every Muslim in India should welcome the CAA,” he added.
Maulana clearly supports this as a positive step for Muslim immigrants who have long experienced discriminatory treatment in obtaining citizenship rights.
The religious leader’s opinion was also reinforced by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who emphasized that the CAA was introduced to grant citizenship and not to revoke anyone’s citizenship rights.
“The minorities in our country, and especially our Muslim community, are being provoked. The CAA cannot revoke anyone’s citizenship because there is no provision in the law for that. The CAA is an action to grant citizenship to persecuted refugees from Bangladesh and Pakistan,” Shah said.
However, some Muslim groups and opposition parties in India have opposed the law. They believe that the CAA could violate the secular principles enshrined in the Indian constitution.
They also stressed that faith cannot be used as a criterion for granting citizenship rights.
Furthermore, the implementation of this law was one of the political promises made by the Hindu hardline Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is Modi’s party.
The Indian Parliament announced this policy a few weeks before the general elections in India, where PM Modi will seek re-election
