“We the people of India” means the citizen of India. The citizen of India is defined as verified, identified and distinguished from infiltrators under the three laws: The Citizenship Act of 1955 (amended many times and the latest version emerged now in the recent Winter Session of Parliament) the Foreigners Act ,1946 and the Passport Act, 1920. Every non citizen who is living in India is an infiltrator, if they are not a tourist or diplomat because India doesn’t define a refugee under any law. Sri Lankan Tamils, Tibetans and some other groups of foreigners are refugees as the government of the day accorded that status.
It is possibly a first after independence in India’s political history. The protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019(CAA) has spread to almost everywhere in the country, yet the reasons for the protest vary with the geography. Some people are protesting against CAA because the CAA allegedly violates the secular identity of the country while others fear that it will put in danger their cultural identity and linguistic. After the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 turning into an Act there’s a big confusion among many people that the CAA and NRC will deny the citizenship of certain people or these act are against the Muslims. The current story began after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government pushing the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament, which passed it on December 12. During the discussion on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) the Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the government would bring a nationwide National Register of Citizens (NRC).
Who gets the Indians Citizenship?
The Citizenship Amendment Bill granting citizenship to the non Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, Christians, Jains and Parsis who are from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh has entered in the country before December 31, 2014.
What is the CAA?
According to the Citizenship Amendment Act, Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi migrants who have entered India illegally i.e. without a visa on or before December 31, 2014 and from the Muslim majority countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who are living in the country for five years are eligible to apply for Indian citizenship.
Why is the provision extended only to the six religions people and not Muslims, and why does it apply only to those people who coming from these three countries? The Union government cleared that people of these six faiths have faced harassment in these three Islamic countries, Muslims haven’t. Therefore India’s moral obligation to provide these people shelter. So there is a question that the provision open only to those who have been persecuted in the three countries? No, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) itself does not mention the word ‘persecution’ anywhere in the act contrary to the BJP’s statement that the act covers only persecuted people. And since persecution is not the norm, it does discriminate against illegal Muslim immigrants from these three countries.
What is NRC?
National Register Citizen is not based on the religion. At its core NRC is an official declaration or record of those people who are legally citizen of India. NRC seeks to detect the people who are illegal immigrant regardless of their caste, creed and religion, detain them and to deport them.
How is the CAA connected to the NRC?
These two have no connection. The NRC is count as of legitimate Indian citizens. Barring the state of Assam only, this never has done anywhere in the country. The Union home minister Amit Shah has said that he will frame NRC nationwide by 2024 to detect illegal migrants. And on December 22nd Prime Minister Narendra Modi said his government had never said anything about NRC except in Assam.
Does CAA exclude Muslim’s?
The CAA excludes Muslim immigrants who have entered India illegally in the country and is not legal Indian Muslim citizens. However since the CAA providing citizenship to non Muslim illegal immigrants from three countries only the Muslim immigrants will be left out.
