The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) Tuesday opposed the notification of rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and said it violates the secular principle of the Constitution by linking citizenship to religious identity.

In a statement, the party also said that the implementation of the rules was linked to the National Register of Citizens and raised the apprehension that citizens of Muslim origin would be targeted.

"The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly opposes the notification of the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). The CAA violates the secular principle of citizenship enshrined in the Constitution by linking citizenship to religious identity," the statement said.

"The rules notified under the Act operationalises this discriminatory approach towards Muslims coming from neighbouring countries. The implementation of the Act is also linked to the creation of a National Register of Citizens raising apprehensions that citizens of Muslim origin will be targeted," it added.

The party said the rules have been devised to exclude the state governments from the process of identifying and enrolling people for citizenship in their state.

"This has obviously been done to exclude those state governments which have opposed the CAA itself," it said.

The CPI(M) also questioned the timing of the notification.

"The timing of the notification of the rules more than four years after the adoption of the CAA and just days before the notification for the Lok Sabha election makes it clear that the BJP wants to use the implementation of the CAA for divisive and polarising purposes," it said.

"The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) reiterates its opposition to the CAA and its implementation and will continue with efforts to get this pernicious law annulled," the party said.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the Centre has announced the 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.

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 countries.

The CAA was passed in December 2019 and subsequently, received 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.

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