SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday attacked the Centre for notifying the rules of CAA, terming it as the BJPs' game of distraction, while BSP supremo Mayawati said doubts, confusion and fear should have been cleared instead of implementing it before Lok Sabha elections.

Yadav said the BJP government at the Centre should also explain why lakhs of citizens gave up their citizenship of the country during their 10-year rule.

Yadav said in a situation where the citizens of the country are forced to leave abroad for livelihood, what purpose implementing the citizenship law will serve for others.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Centre has announced implementation of the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 for granting citizenship to undocumented non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who came to India before December 31, 2014.

"When the citizens of the country are forced to go out for livelihood, then what will happen by bringing 'citizenship law' for others? The public has now understood the BJP's game of politics of distraction," Yadav said in a post on X.

"The BJP government should explain why lakhs of citizens gave up their citizenship of the country during their 10 years of rule. No matter what happens tomorrow you have to give account of Electoral Bond' and then also of the 'care fund'," Yadav added.

In her post on X, Mayawati said, "Instead of implementing the citizenship amendment law before the election, it would have been better to implement it only after clearing doubts, confusion and fears." With the CAA rules being notified, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from the three neighbouring countries.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently got the president's assent but there were protests in several parts of the country against it. The law could not come into effect as rules had not been notified till now.

"These rules, called the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024, will enable the persons eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for the grant of Indian citizenship," a home ministry spokesperson said.

The nine states where Indian citizenship by registration or naturalisation is given under the Citizenship Act, 1955 to non-Muslim minorities from the three neighbouring countries are Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra.

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