Looks like Modi Government has put this law in cold storage, to cut further losses ?

It’s now been more than a year since the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 has been passed in the Parliament of India, but the Narendra Modi government has not issued the rules for implementing this law, despite facing all the protests across the country, especially the Shaheenbhag protests in Delhi, the Government was hell-bent in defending the law and also used this as a polarizing issue in the Delhi Assembly elections. No less than the home minister of India Amit Shah had championed this bill. Yet there seems to be a re-think on this law, and when recently, Amit shah was asked about this, he said the law is not being
implemented due to Covid. When everything from restaurants to theaters are open, Covid can’t be the real reason for not implementing CAA, in this article of reading between lines, let’s see what could be the reasons.

One reason could be that the government is spooked by the bad press it got across the international media & its consequences especially from the investment’s point of view in lieu of the declining economy. But the Modi government’s track record does not suggest this may be the main reason, It could be due to the backlash it received from the Muslim nations such as Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc where Modi has cultivated careful relations and also received many honorary awards which no other Prime Minister garnered.

But more than these countries, it could be Bangladesh with whom the relations due to CAA were looking to get worse, and the Modi government may not want to be in a situation where the only country with which India has strong ties in the neighborhood to the extent that all the land boundary settlement has been settled to be jeopardized. Already China is fishing in troubled waters in Nepal and Sri Lanka. It is not in India’s interest to have a ridge with Bangladesh and give another opening to China. Also, the Prime Minister is set to visit Bangladesh in March 2021 to mark the 50th Independence Day of Bangladesh, its a prestigious day for both the countries, and any further controversial rhetoric on CAA during the West Bengal elections which are scheduled in February 2021 could be a spoiler for this event. In addition to these reasons, there is also the NRC fiasco in Assam, where the BJP government enthusiastically implemented the SC ordered NRC, only to come up with a list where the number of Hindu’s with no paperwork were more than the Muslims, forcing the state BJP unit to disown their own NRC.

It is difficult to pinpoint one particular reason for the GOI to backtrack on CAA, but probably a combination of all these reasons and realizing, that proceeding with this could boomerang in multiple ways ranging from economy, foreign relations, domestic backlash, and even electoral setback in Assam, probably forced the hand of Narendra Modi and Amit shah to slowdown on CAA.

Undoubtedly, the BJP Government at the Centre is taking slow and steady steps towards ‘One Nation, One Election’ under the Jamili concept. This is evident from the latest move by the Centre to prepare ‘One Voter Roll’ for all elections, including Jamili polls. This One Voter Roll should be used for elections to the Lok Sabha, State Assemblies, Municipal Bodies and Panchayat Bodies down the line.

Ever since the BJP retained its power in the 2019 elections, it has been talking about ‘Jamili’ one time election for all legislative bodies across the country. The next general election is to be held in 2024 as per the schedule. But, there are reports the Jamili will be held sometime in 2022 or 2023 in order to strike uniformity in the States where the assembly elections are to be held around that time.

The One Voter Roll concept is brought forward considering the glaring mismatches everytime elections are held for different bodies. Moreover, the officials who are otherwise busy with their regular functions are not able to ensure foolproof rolls due to frequent elections. If all the elections are held at one time, this will help streamline the voter rolls preparation.

The BJP’s main argument is that frequent and multiple elections somewhere all the time in the country are hampering growth and development projects. Jamili election will help resolve this problem so that the Central, the State and the local Governments can concentrate on development comfortably.

The Modi government has made its stand clear on the three capitals issue. The central government on Thursday filed an affidavit in the Andhra Pradesh High Court that it has no role in capital creation.

Further, the union government contended that it is the prerogative of a state to decide the location of its capital city.

With the counter affidavit, it has now become clear that the Modi government will not interfere in the decision of the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh to shift the administrative capital of the state from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam.

The Union government’s counter affidavit comes in the wake of the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s directive to the Jagan government to maintain status quo till August 14 on shifting of capital from Amaravati to Vizag.

The Modi government’s affidavit exposed the BJP’s double standards on the capital issue as the saffron party had passed a political resolution in favour of Amaravati as the capital. The central government had sanctioned Rs 2,500 crore for the project and an amount of Rs 1,500 crore had already been released.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone of the new capital Amaravati at Uddandarayunipalem village in Guntur district.

As a matter of fact, the Prime Minister had stated that the central government would fulfill all promises that had been made in the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 and would be implemented in-toto.

The state BJP leaders have been talking in different voices on the capital issue ever since Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy announced trifurcation for capital.

BJP leader Lanka Dinakar had stated that his party is in favour of Amaravati and is supporting the ‘One State, One Capital’ system in Andhra Pradesh, while G V L Narasimha Rao had clarified that the Centre has no role in the issue of the capital.

Kanna Lakshminarayana when he was state BJP president had written to Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan urging him not to give assent to the two capital bills.

Rajya Sabha MP GVL Narasimha Rao and State president Somu Veerraju stated capital creation was not in the purview of the Centre and that the two Bills were cleared as per the constitutional and legal provisions.

The Governor had on July 31 given his assent to the two controversial bills — the Andhra Pradesh Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of all Regions Bill and APCRDA Repeal Bill paving the way for creating three capitals in Andhra Pradesh.

The Governor has approved the bills notwithstanding a demand by the Opposition parties to refer them to President Ram Nath Kovind. The two Bills have been approved even as the matter is pending in the High Court. However, the Governor stated that he approved the two Bills after thorough consultations with legal experts. The Governor’s move gains significance as the matter is sub-judice, pending before the High Court.

On July 18, the Jagan government had sent the AP Decentralisation and Inclusive Development of All Regions Bill, 2020 for setting up three capitals in the state to the Governor for his assent.

Both the Bills were passed in the Assembly in January and introduced in the Council, while the chairman referred them to the Select Committee. The bills were halted in the Assembly for the second time as the session was suspended amid pandemonium.

The previous TDP government has acquired over 35,000 acres of land from over 28,000 farmers in Amaravati. Soon after riding to power, Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy had proposed three capitals — Amaravati as the legislative capital, Visakhapatnam as the executive capital and Kurnool as the legal capital. This triggered massive protests from thousands of farmers who gave their lands for the capital construction at Amaravati. Amaravati farmers have been protesting against Jagan’s decision for several months now.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday extended the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) for another five months till the end of November to help the poor in view of the upcoming festivals like Diwali and Chhath.

The Prime Minister made the announcement in his sixth address to the nation in four months since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and started getting out of hand.

“Keeping needs of expenses of people, it has been decided that the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana should now be extended till Diwali and Chhath Puja. The scheme will be extended till the end of November,” the Prime Minister said during his 16-minute address.

Modi said that more than Rs 90,000 crore will be spent in the expansion of the scheme and around 80 crore people across the country will be provided free ration — five kg wheat or 5 kg rice.

The Prime Minister also said that every family will also be provided 1 kg gram (chana) under the scheme every month.

Explaining the expenses, the Prime Minister said it comes to almost one and a half lakh crore if the expenses of the last three months are added to it. Though the country is currently in ‘Unlock 2’ mode to help revive the stagnant economy, the Prime Minister requested people to keep precautions and follow the guidelines.

The Prime Minister addressed the nation for the second time in the span of three days as the nation headed towards a scarier and worse state of coronavirus outbreak pushing the total tally of Covid-19 cases to 5,66,840, with the number of fatalities inching closer to 17,000-mark.

On an average, there are around 18,000-20,000 Covid-19 cases reported every day and while the central government might be on the brink of coming up with a vaccine soon, the worry is still imminent given the expanse of the country and its demographic divide.