Congress ally IUML pleads case against implementation of CAA

New Delhi [India], March 19 (ANI): Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader PK Kunhalikutty on Tuesday questioned the ‘need’ to implement Citizenship Amendment Rules and said that citizenship should be given to everybody, not to certain sections.

“See, ours is the lead petition in the Supreme Court…Why should the government, days before or hours before the notification, issue such rules,” Indian Union Muslim League leader Kunhalikutty told ANI.

He further questioned why the government is going ahead with the citizenship order when the case is pending in the court.

“The case is pending in the court but the government is going ahead with the citizenship order. Why should the government do that? We are raising that in the court. We hope that we will get some relief. We are not opposing CAA, citizenship should be given to everybody, not to certain sections only,” he added.

The Supreme Court is set to review several pleas on Tuesday requesting the government to suspend the enforcement of the 2024 Citizenship Amendment Rules.

The Kerala-based political party IUML, which is an ally of the Congress, filed a petition in the Supreme Court, a day after the government released the regulations under the CAA.

Earlier, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the implementation of the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

In his petition, Owaisi sought directions to the central government not to entertain or process the applications seeking grant of citizenship status under Section 6B of the Citizenship Act, 1955 (as it stands amended by the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019) during the pendency of the proceedings.

Apart from Kerala, Chief Ministers of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu have also announced that the CAA will not be implemented in their respective states.

The Union Home Ministry notified the rules for implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on March 11.

The CAA rules, introduced by the Narendra Modi government and passed by Parliament in 2019, aim to confer Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants–including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis, and Christians–who migrated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and arrived in India before December 31, 2014.