On a visit to Siliguri to take stock of his party’s organizational matters ahead of the West Bengal elections next year, BJP president JP Nadda said yesterday that the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act had been delayed due to the pandemic, but as that situation is improving rules are now being framed for CAA. Further he said that CAA would be implemented very soon: “All of you will get the benefits of the law. We are committed to it.”

The validity of CAA is of course pending before the Supreme Court, where it has been challenged on constitutional grounds, including the ‘basic structure doctrine’. By providing relief to minorities of six other religions living as illegal migrants in India after fleeing religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan the law shows an inherent bias against Muslims, when the more humane and non-controversial refugee policy would be to assess persecution on a case by case basis rather than by religion.

Before the pandemic the law had opened a gaping trust deficit and seen intense blowback in different parts of the country, and also caused great damage on the foreign policy front, whether specifically in terms of India’s relationship with Bangladesh or generally its image abroad. What has changed since the pandemic? India’s health and economy have weakened significantly. Its economy contracted 23.9% in the June quarter while Bangladesh is set to overtake its per capita GDP and China is seeing an impressive V-shaped recovery. At this point national interest has a clear imperative, to rebuild India’s health and economy. Don’t sacrifice this on a divisive electoral altar.

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