Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh: All India Muslim Jamaat President Maulana Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi, welcoming the notification of CAA Act, said the law wouldn't impact the Muslim community’s citizenship status, news agency ANI reported.
Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi’s response comes hours after the Centre issued notification, leading to widespread protest against the controversial law, according to the report.
‘The Govt of India has implemented the CAA law. I welcome this law. This should have been done much earlier but better late than never...’ he was quoted as saying.
In what is seen as an attempt to allay fears among the community, he reportedly said: ‘There are a lot of misunderstandings among the Muslims regarding this law. This law has nothing to do with Muslims. Earlier there was no law to provide citizenship to the non-Muslims coming from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who faced atrocities based on religion.’
Shahabuddin Razvi Bareilvi made it clear that the law will not be taking away the citizenship of any Muslim, adding that ‘in the past years, it has been seen that there were protests, it was because of misunderstandings. Some political people created misunderstandings among the Muslims... Every Muslim of India should welcome the CAA.’
The Union Home Ministry on Monday evening notified rules for implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Passed by the Parliament in 2019, the CAA aims to providing Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants who came to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014.