Speaking at a rally in West Bengal, Shah said that implementation of the law had to be kept in abeyance “after the country was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020”.

“As soon as the COVID vaccination process ends the process of granting citizenship under CAA will begin. All of you [Matua community] will be respected citizens of this country,” he said, addressing a rally in Thakurnagar, the bastion of the Matua community.

There were country wide protests against the CAA after it was passed by parliament in December 2019. The law provides a fast-track to citizenship for non-Muslim refugees who have faced religious persecution in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. However, there are fears that , the CAA could be used to disenfranchise Indian Muslims, using it along with the proposed nationwide National Register of Citizens.

Shah acknowledged these fears, saying, “As the home minister of this country, I want to assure the minorities of India that none of you will lose citizenship. The CAA is about granting citizenship to refugees, it is not about taking away anyone’s citizenship.”

Reacting to Shah’s assertion about implementing the CAA, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said he should “mind his language” and declared that she will never allow it to be enforced in the state.

“The home minister of the country should be careful about his utterances. We will never allow CAA, NRC or NPR [National Population Register] in Bengal. They can say whatever they want to. They want to destroy Bengal. We will never allow them to do that,” she said.

As of December 2020, the home ministry had said that rules governing the Act are still under preparation, a year after it was passed by parliament and received the President’s assent.

Responding to an RTI query from The Hindu, B.C. Joshi, director (citizenship), Foreigners Division, said “the rules under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 are under preparation”.

The post CAA will be implemented after COVID-19 vaccination ends, says Amit Shah appeared first on The Gulf Indians.

Tooter, with a conch shell(shank) icon, is an Indian alternative to Twitter that became popular amid call for going ‘vocal for local’ in the country. Modelled in the likes of Twitter, the site also has a white and blue coloured interface and is inspired by the US-based platform Parler.

This ‘Made in India’ social media site went viral after it identified itself as a swadeshi social network.

In fact the website became active around June or July. But it caught netizens’attention only recently and ever since then desi Twitter users have left no stone unturned to create hilarious memes and jokes about it.

#Tooter
*Indian version of Twitter exist*

Expectation Reality : pic.twitter.com/6U35Euf2Ui

— अभिमन्यु (@abhiishutup) November 24, 2020

https://twitter.com/sircazm/status/1331392267043500032

Twitter #Tooter pic.twitter.com/fgv3kIhLIC

— Patriotic Indian (@SwadeshiINC) November 24, 2020

https://twitter.com/AbdulSRKian01/status/1331209543167066112

If you wonder who will be using this identical twin of Twitter, one won’t be surprised as the site has some prominent personalities as its users like PM Narendara Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, actor Abhishek Bachchan, Sadhguru and cricketer Virat Kohli.

The site claims that it aims to promote free speech and not punish users for “exercising their god-given right to speak freely.”

The platform is a cross between Facebook and Twitter. It follows the same mechanism as Twitter, as the user has to create an account on Tootter with a username and an email address. After signing up, users can follow other accounts , read through a feed and customise groups and lists. Like posts on Twitter are called tweets, it is Toots on Tooter. The app is available only for Android users.

The post This identical twin of Twitter sparks meme fest online appeared first on The Gulf Indians.