CAA rules before Lok Sabha polls, citizenship to beneficiaries soon after: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said the rules for the contentious changes in the citizenship law will be "definitely" notified before the Lok Sabha elections while insisting that the amendments were not meant to snatch citizenship from any Indian.

Shah, who was speaking at the ET NOW Global Business Summit 2024, also said the Uniform Civil Code is a constitutional agenda signed by country's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru but the Congress has "ignored it due to appeasement" policy.

To a question on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Shah said the law will be implemented before the Lok Sabha elections after issuing the rules in this regard.

“The CAA is the country's law. Definitely, the rules will be notified before the elections. It will be implemented before the elections. There shouldn't be any confusion over this. Congress leaders had promised this during partition," he said.

"Our Muslim brothers are being misled and instigated. The CAA is only meant to give citizenship to those who came to India after facing persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. It is not for snatching anyone's Indian citizenship," he added.

He said the enforcement of the UCC in Uttarakhand is a social change and it will be discussed on all forums and face legal scrutiny. A secular country cannot have religion-based civil codes, he said.

Shah also expressed confidence that the BJP will win 370 seats and the NDA more than 400 in the upcoming Lok Sabha election. "We have abrogated Article 370. So we believe that the people of the country will bless the BJP with 370 seats and the NDA with over 400 seats," he said.

On the possibility of NDA being expanded with the induction of RLD, Akali Dal and TDP among others, he said the BJP "believes in family planning but not in politics...talks are going on but nothing has been finalised."

Referring to Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi's claim that Modi was not OBC by birth, Shah said it is "very unfortunate" that there is a debate on the caste of Modi. 

"Modi's caste was listed in Gujarat as OBC on July 25, 1994. At that time, the chief minister of Gujarat was Chhabildas Mehta and the party in power was the Congress. Till that time, Modi had not contested a single election. He used to work for the organisation only. The question of his caste did not come at all,” he said.

"Subsequently, the Gujarat government recommended the inclusion of his caste in the central OBC list. It was finally included in the central OBC list in 2000. At that time also, Modi was not in a position of power -- not an MP, not an MLA nor even a sarpanch. He became the chief minister in 2001. These people have a habit of distorting facts," he added.