Anger over Centre’s bid to open citizenship window

Aasu threatens to launch agitation, opposes backdoor entry of foreigners

A day after the Centre issued gazette notification inviting citizenship applications in 13 districts of five states - Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab from members of minority communities hailing from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, the All Assam Students Union and several others on Saturday threatened to re-intensify their agitation if government resorts to any such move in Assam to grant citizenship to non-Muslim foreign nationals.

Warning that any attempt to extend notification to Assam may prove counterproductive, the All Assam Students Union (Aasu) president Dipankar Nath said, “The Central government has started the process of granting citizenship to non-Muslim foreigners from the backdoor instead of framing the rules under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court as the Centre was not submitting its reply on framing of the CAA rules on pretext of ongoing Covid crisis but through a separate gazette notification in five states, it has violated and ignored the apex court too.”

Fearing that the Centre may resort to similar move in Assam also, Mr Nath, who backed the formation of political party - Assam Jatiya Parishad which contested just concluded Assembly polls but failed to make its presence felt on all the seats, the party contested on its anti-CAA plank, said, “People of Assam will not tolerate the CAA. We are not prepared to take the load of foreigners anymore. We would like to make it very clear that any attempt to provide citizenship to foreigners will have very dangerous implications and fall outs.”

Former Aasu leader and president of the Assam Jatiya Parishad, Lurinjyoti Gogoi, who contested the just-concluded Assembly polls from two seats but lost, told reporters that the Centre has started inviting applications without framing the CAA rules.

“It reflects the mentality of the BJP government which may soon try to impose the same gazette notification on Assam too. Five youths have already sacrificed their lives in anti-CAA stir. We would like to warn the Central government to refrain from any such move to provide citizenship to foreigners in the name of giving settlement to Hindus. We will not be silent spectator to such act of the government,” he said while threatening to re-launch anti-CAA agitation in the state.

Another political party which came into existence after anti-CAA movement in Assam - the Rijor Dal led by noted jailed peasant leader Akhil Gogoi, who got elected in Assembly polls too has also threatened to re-launch their anti-CAA movement in the state if gazette notification is extended to Assam and North-East.

The notification issued by the ministry of home affairs for five states on Friday lists Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians as the communities that will be covered, and states that the applications will have to be submitted online.

The order has been issued under the Citizenship Act,

1955 and the Citizenship Rules, 2009 and not under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 since its rules have not yet been framed, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs said. A similar notification had been issued in 2018 as well for other districts in several states.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 16 of the Citizenship Act, 1955

(57 of 1955), the Central Government hereby directs that powers exercisable by it, for registration as a citizen of India under section

5, or for grant of certificate of naturalisation under section 6, of the Citizenship Act, 1955, in respect of any person belonging to minority community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians… shall also be exercisable by the Collector, within whose jurisdiction the applicant is ordinarily resident,” the notification said.

The districts listed in the notification are: Morbi, Rajkot, Patan and Vadodara (Gujarat); Durg and Balodabazar (Chhattisgarh); Jalore, Udaipur, Pali, Barmer and Sirohi (Rajasthan); Faridabad (Haryana); and, Jalandhar (Punjab).

It also granted similar powers to the Home Secretaries of Haryana and Punjab, except for Faridabad and Jalandhar.

“The verification of the application is done simultaneously by the Collector or the Secretary, as the case may be, at the district level and the state level and the application and the reports thereon shall be made accessible simultaneously to the Central Government on online portal,” the order said. “The Collector or the Secretary, as the case may be, on being satisfied with the suitability of the applicant, grants him the citizenship of India by registration or naturalisation and issues a certificate of registration or naturalisation, as the case may be, duly printed from online portal and signed by the Collector or the Secretary, as the case may be, in the Form as prescribed in the said rules,” the notification said.

THE ORDER has been issued under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Citizenship Rules, 2009 and not under the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 since its rules have not yet been framed