India’s citizenship law in perspective
Those who claim that this bill will be a tool to lure Hindus to come from those countries, should remember that the only aim of this bill is to provide immediate relief to those who have already been compelled to come.
By Prasun Maitra
After the Indian parliament passed the amendments in the Citizenship Act, 1955 popularly known as the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) on December,11, 2019, the opposition parties and a section of media in India are playing a dangerous game of confusing people by deliberately mixing CAB with NRC. This cheap ploy for vote bank politics is not only making false alarms but also creating a situation of hostility and unrest amonst different communitieswho have otherwise been living peacefully.
Before falling into the trap of such propaganda, one should be informed that the CAB has brought no major changes in the Citizenship Act, 1955 except: first, considering migrants of minority communities in three neighbouring countries, namely Pakistan, Afghanistan & Bangladesh, as a group for consideration of citizenship, and secondly, decreasing the number of days of stay in the country for being eligible to be considered for citizenship from 11 years to 5 years. Even if these amendments were not made with the above changes, victims of religious persecution from those countries would still get citizenship in India but they would have been eligible for consideration after 11 years and their cases would have been treated individually that means there would have been chances of discrimination. The CAB has just nullified those chances making a smooth way for them to obtain citizenship of India taking a humanitarian approach.
Those who claim that this bill will be a tool to lure Hindus to come from those countries, should remember that the only aim of this bill is to provide immediate relief to those who have already been compelled to come. And that is why the cut off date has been fixed on 31st December, 2014 so that they may become eligible for citizenship after 31st December, 2019. There can be no denial of the fact that migration of persecuted minorities in those three countries is a continuous process, but those, who have been compelled to come since 1st January, 2015, will have to go through the same process as before with only relief of minimised years of stay.
Now, it should be made clear that the CAB has nothing to do with the National Registwe of Citizens (NRC). NRC is a different process approved by the Indian parliament way back in 2003. It is to be conducted by the Register General & Census Commissioner of India, unlike Assam NRC which was done by a selected group of people by the top court under it’s supervision. The Assam NRC was a combination of the Judicial and Executive while NRC as per rule passed by the parliament will be a combination of Legislative and Executive. Hence, it will be quite irrational to compare Assam NRC with proposed pan-India NRC and get sceptical. But yes, efforts are welcome to make concerned authorities to take note of the faults in Assam NRC so that those do not get repeated during national implementation.
I also feel pity for a section of Hindutvadis who are propagating that by passing the CAB, Primer Minister, Narendra Modi has made way for persecuted migrants to forget atrocities on them in neighbouring countries by majority people of those states and thus, it is a scope to recover their lands that have been marginalised. Well, I find it nothing but immaturity as CAB has nothing to do with the said, recovery of land. This Act is just a recognition of atrocities on them for their religious identity and for providing refuge to them. Those lands were already conceded back in 1947 after agreeing to the Partition on the basis of the Two Nations theory. However, blaming the Union govt for helping migrants to forget their atrocities by enacting CAB is not only childish but also vindictive.
The Citizenship Ammendment Act has helped persecuted migrants a relief from anxiety. It has given them freedom from discrimination. It has recognised them as a persecuted group that can help us to put their cases in different international forums and highlight how minorities are treated in those countries. Instead of protesting, we should welcome it.
(The author is a Hindu rights activist based in Kolkata.)
Views are personal and do not necessarily reflect those of International Affairs Review
