CAA won’t impact citizenship of Indian Muslims, says Centre
No Indian citizen will be asked to produce any document to prove his or her citizenship after Act, Centre says and adds that the law has nothing to do with the present 18 crore Indian Muslims, who have equal rights as their Hindu counterparts
In a bid to allay the fears of Muslims after the rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) were notified, the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday said that “no Indian citizen would be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this Act”.
The Ministry, in a press note titled “Positive narrative on CAA, 2019”, answered eight questions regarding its impact on Islam and Muslims.
The document was pulled down from government’s website late on Tuesday.
On the CAA’s impact on Muslims living in India, the Ministry said, “Indian Muslims need not worry as the CAA has not made any provision to impact their citizenship and has nothing to do with the present 18 crore Indian Muslims, who have equal rights like their Hindu counterparts. No Indian citizen will be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this Act.”
There are apprehensions that the CAA, which
Members of Students’ Federation of India staging a protest against the CAA in Chennai on Tuesday.
allows citizenship on the basis of religion to six undocumented religious communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, followed by a countrywide compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), will adversely affect the Muslim community. While the CAA will come to the rescue of nonMuslims excluded from the NRC, the excluded Muslims will have to prove their citizenship, it is feared.
The Centre had told Parliament that “till now the government has not taken any decision to prepare
NRC at national level” and had denied that the CAA and the NRC were linked. However, according to the Citizenship Rules 2003 under the Citizenship Act, 1955, the National Population Register (NPR), that is to be updated along the first phase of Census, is the first step towards compilation of the NRC. This rule has neither been amended nor dropped and no new legislation is needed to conduct the NPR across the country.
The Ministry stated on Tuesday that the CAA reduced the qualification period for acquiring Indian citizenship from 11 years to five years for the beneficiaries persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh “without curtailing the freedom and opportunity of Indian Muslims to enjoy their rights as they have been usually practising and entertaining since Independence like other Indian citizens belonging to other religions”.
To a question, “Is there any provision or agreement for repatriating illegal Muslim migrants to Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan?”, it said that “India does not have any pact or agreement with any of these countries to repatriate migrants back to these countries”.
‘Concern unjustifiable’
It added that the CAA does not deal with the deportation of illegal immigrants and therefore the concern of a section of people, including Muslims and students, that the Act was against Muslim minorities was unjustifiable.
The Ministry said that the CAA defined illegal migrant as a foreigner who has entered India without valid documents, just like the Citizenship Act of 1955.
Regarding the “impact of CAA on the image of Islam”, it said, “Due to the persecution of minorities in those three Muslim countries, the name of Islam was badly tarnished all around the world. However, Islam, being a peaceful religion, never preaches or suggests hatred/violence/ any persecution on religious ground. This Act showing the compassion and compensation for the persecution, protects Islam from being tarnished in the name of persecution.”
The Ministry added that there was no bar on Muslims from anywhere in the world to seek Indian citizenship under Section 6 of the Citizenship Act, which deals with the citizenship by naturalisation. It said there was a need to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 “to show mercy on the persecuted minorities of those three countries .”
“The CAA does not cancel the naturalisation laws. This Act does not prevent any Muslim, who is persecuted in those three Islamic countries for practising their version of Islam, from applying for Indian citizenship under the existing laws,” it said.