AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is inspired by the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi’s killer Nathuram Godse and that it is meant only to target the Muslim community.

“Our objections to CAA remain the same. CAA is divisive and based on Godse’s thought that it wanted to reduce Muslims to second-class citizens. Give asylum to anyone who is persecuted but citizenship must not be based on religion or nationality,” Asaduddin Owaisi wrote on X.

He further demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi government to explain why these rules were notified after a delay of five years.

“The government should explain why it kept these rules pending for five years and why it’s implementing them now. Along with NPR-NRC, CAA is meant to only target Muslims. It serves no other purpose. Indians who came out on the streets to oppose CAA, NPR, and NRC will have no choice but to oppose it again,” Owaisi added.

His remarks came shortly after the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) notified rules for the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act, which seeks to grant Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslims, who migrated to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014.

“These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for the grant of Indian citizenship. The applications will be submitted in a completely online mode for which a web portal has been provided,” the MHA said.

The Citizenship Amendment Act was one of the BJP’s major poll planks in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Following its implementation, the saffron party said that the Modi government has fulfilled its guarantee.

“Did what was said…Modi government fulfilled its guarantee by issuing the notification of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),” the BJP said in a post on X.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah echoed the saffron party and said, “…With this notification, PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji has delivered on another commitment and realised the promise of the makers of our constitution to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians living in those countries,” he said.