Rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will be framed by the Centre by March 30, 2024, minister of state (home affairs) Ajay Kumar Mishra said on Sunday at Thakurnagar in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district while attending a festival of the Dalit Matua community that has been demanding it.

“I am assuring that members of the Matua community will not lose their citizenship. They are all safe. According to the latest information I have, the laws for CAA will be framed by March 30,” Mishra told a large crowd that had gathered for the annual Ras Utsav.

The Centre earlier said it was in the process of framing laws for the CAA.

During his 2021 election campaign at Thakurnagar, Union home minister Amit Shah announced that the Centre would enforce CAA once Covid-19 vaccination across the country was over. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party did not speak on this issue since then and it suffered a setback in the West Bengal panchayat polls earlier this year.

Passed by Parliament in 2020, CAA offers citizenship to non-Muslims who entered India from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh before 2015. The Trinamool Congress party insists that CAA is unconstitutional as it links citizenship to faith in a secular country.

“CAA is a thorn for the BJP. During the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP did not even mention CAA in Assam, but raised it in Bengal hoping to capture votes. In Gujarat, on the other hand, attempts are being made to enforce CAA in some districts,” TMC Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen said. “Bengal’s Matuas have understood the trick.”

“Mamata Banerjee has said several times that Bengal does not need CAA because those have been casting their votes, owning property and having jobs for decades are already citizens. They do not need fresh citizenship certificates from the Centre,” Sen added.

(With inputs from agencies)