Citizenship Amendment Bill, (2019)

The entire country is split on the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB). There have been mass protests all over the country against this bill and it has become a very sensitive issue. Now, let us first understand what the actual nature of this bill is, especially due to the numerous rumors flying around.

THE PURPOSE

The purpose of this bill is to grant citizenship to all persons belonging to the Jain, Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Buddhist and Hindu communities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, who entered India on or before 31^st December 2014. Such a person shall be residing in India for 6 or more years before applying for citizenship

OBJECTIVES AND REASONS

The objective of this bill is to protect those people, who are religious minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and who have faced religious persecution and have fled their home country and have found refuge in India. All these countries have a declared state religion i.e. Islam. According to census reports the percentage of non-muslims has declined drastically in Bangladesh (previously East Pakistan) from 23.2% in 1951 to 9.4% in 2011. The situation is similar in Pakistan and one can’t even imagine what the situation might be in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has virtually ruled for so many years. So under these circumstances, what are these people supposed to do? The only alternative, other than conversion, is to flee their country and seek refuge in India. Is it morally right for India to shut its doors on such people? Have we become so exclusionists that we have forgotten our rich tradition of inclusivity?

CRITICISM

On what I have heard in the media and read in newspapers and from the general public discourse, I have summed up that the criticism towards this bill is due to four main reasons, which are as follows:

1) Why are Muslims not Included?

The purpose of this bill is to protect minorities in these countries, who have faced religious persecution.  It is but natural, that the chances of Muslims being persecuted on the basis of religion in countries where the state religion is Islam are very slim. The reason why Muslims are not included is because they are a majority in these 3 countries comprising 90-95% of the population. Further what is important to note is that no Indian Muslim is to be affected by this bill, infact no Indian citizen is affected by this bill as this bill only grants citizenship, it does not take it away. To those people who have called this bill anti-secular don’t probably understand the meaning of secularism. Six communities have been included in this group. Is this not Secularism?

2) Erosion Of Culture (Anti – Immigration)

The protests taking place in Assam and Tripura are because the tribal population of these parts are worried that granting citizenship to such migrants would lead to an erosion of their culture and also cause problems related to over-population. It is a valid criticism of the bill, but what most people don’t know is that, according to clause 3 sub clause 4 of the bill, ‘Nothing in this section shall apply to the tribal areas of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram as included in the sixth schedule of the constitution and the area covered under the “inner line” notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873’. It means that the tribal areas of these states are not included under this bill, thus protecting the culture of these areas. It is a classic Liberals (pro immigration) vs Right Wing (anti immigration) debate.

3) NRC – CAB Connection

The National Registrar of Citizens (NRC) is an exercise which the govt intends to carry out throughout India to weed out illegal immigrants staying in India. CAB is for granting citizenship to people belonging to certain communities who have entered India from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. NRC and CAB have no connection whatsoever. If a person does not have the necessary documents, he would be declared as an illegal immigrant and be excluded from the NRC, irrespective of his religion. If an illegal immigrant, who has stayed in India illegally all his life, and even if he belongs to the Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Jain, Parsi and Buddhist community, he won’t be eligible to get citizenship under the CAB. He would only be eligible to get citizenship under CAB, If he is able to prove through documentation that he’s a Pakistani, Afghani or Bangladeshi citizen who entered India before 31^st December 2014 and that he belongs to either of the six above mentioned communities and has been a victim of religious persecution in his home country. So the NRC-CAB connection is absolutely absurd and is caused by some people who are trying to mislead the population against the CAB. If indeed there had been some connection between NRC and CAB, in the manner stated by some people, then it would have been a cause of great concern. But the facts of the case are pretty clear, there is no such connection and the citizens of India, especially Muslims have nothing to be feared of.

4) Is It Unconstitutional?

Article 11 of the Indian constitution says ‘Parliament to regulate the right of citizenship by law. Nothing in the foregoing provisions of this part shall derogate from the power of parliament to make any provision with respect to the acquisition and termination of citizenship and all other matters related to citizenship’. It means that parliament has the right to take decisions in all matters related to citizenship. Some people have said that the CAB violates Article 14 (right to equality), but the supreme court has made it clear through many previous judgements like Ram Krishna Dalmia vs Shriyans Prasad Jain that article 14 does not prohibit “reasonable classification”. Thus article 14 does not mean that the same laws should apply to all persons or that every law must have universal application. This is because all persons are not, by nature or circumstances in the same positions. In this case, minorities from these three countries are not, by circumstances, in the same position as say Muslims in these three countries, that is why, such a classification was made. Besides, there have been previous cases of classifications also, wherein only Hindu and Sikh migrants from Pakistan were granted citizenship or people from Bermuda and Sri Lanka were also taken as refugees, thus it is not the first time that the state has resorted to classification while giving citizenship.

It will be interesting to see what stance the Supreme Court Of India takes.