‘Betrayal by BJP’: Why CAA rules might not help Hindu Bengalis left out of Assam NRC

On Monday, the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act were released, more than four years after the law was passed in Parliament. The legislation offers followers of six religions from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan a fast track to Indian citizenship, even if they had entered the country illegally. But Muslims are barred from this route.

Since the law was enacted, the Bharatiya Janata Party has claimed that the Citizenship Amendment Act will be able to provide relief to Hindu Bengalis who were excluded from Assam’s National Register of Citizens. The register was updated in 2019 in an attempt to list genuine citizens after fears that large numbers of undocumented migrants from Bangladesh were living in the state. However, experts claim that the way the process works in practice, it would help only a few Bengali Hindus.

The issue is politically salient for the BJP since Hindu Bengalis in Assam are a strong support group for the party.

CAA rules don’t help

The Citizenship Amendment Act rules say that applicants will have to provide two kinds of documents in order to apply for citizenship.

First, under Schedule A1 of the Act, they will have to provide documents proving they came from Bangladesh, Afghanistan or Pakistan. Second, they will have to...

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