Why there is a lot of ruckus about this Citizenship Amendment Act 2019, so let’s know what is this bill ?

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 had been introduced in both the Parliament. It was introduced by the Union Home Minister of India Mr. Amit Shah and the Honorable President of India has also signed it. But there is a lot of ruckus about this bill, so let’s know what is this bill?

Before starting my article, let me tell you that I am not currently in favor of or against this bill. Whatever will be written will be based on the facts.

Protests against the Citizenship Amendment Bill ( CAB ) continue in Assam and Tripura. Apart from this, this bill is also being opposed in some other parts of the country.

Special things

• Citizenship bill passed by 311-80 votes in Lok Sabha at midnight, Shah said bill ‘NRC is coming’
• The Citizenship Amendment bill has been passed in the Rajya Sabha.
• 125 votes were cast in favor of this bill.
• The opposition got 99 votes.
• Protests are continuing in many states of Northeast including Assam regarding this bill.

CAB i.e. Citizenship Amendment Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

Rajya Sabha had 125 votes in support of this CAB while 99 votes in opposition. Honorable Union Minister Shri Amit Shah, while replying to the discussion on the Bill in the Rajya Sabha, claimed that the Citizenship Amendment Bill is completely in accordance with the constitutional provisions and there is a provision of “not taking citizenship of anyone”, hence Muslim citizens of the country There is no need to be afraid of it. Let all of you know that this bill is being strongly opposed in many northeastern states including Assam. Protests in Assam led to arson and sabotage, after which internet services have been shut in 10 districts for 24 hours there. At the same time, the opposition is calling this bill anti-constitutional.

What is Citizenship Ammendment Bill ?

Article 11 of the constitution gave Parliament the right to decide the scale of citizenship. Under this right, the Parliament brought the Citizenship Act, 1955. In this act, it was said that who would be a citizen of India from 26 January 1950 onwards? How their citizenship can be terminated.

What is the condition of being a citizen?

There are certain conditions for being a citizen of India under the Citizenship Act, 1955. The basis of citizenship was laid down in this law. Birth, descent, registration, natural & land acquisition. Now let’s understand them in some detail.

Let us first talk about the citizenship given on the basis of birth :

• The act of 1955, stating birth as the basis of citizenship of India, said that if someone was born in India after January 26, 1950, then he would be considered a citizen of India. But after this rule, it became difficult that there were no exact rules about the parents.
• According to this rule, if a foreigner’s child were also born in India, he would have got constitutionally the citizenship of India. Then this act was amended in 1986. This amendment stated that a person born in India after 26 January 1950 would be a citizen of India but both his parents or one of them must be an Indian citizen.
• It was again amended in 2003. It said that a person born in India after 26 January 1950 would be a citizen of India, but both his mother and father should be citizens of India, or one of the parents should be a citizen of India and the other should not be an illegal migrant. He should have all the legal papers of stay.

Now let’s talk about citizenship on the basis of descent :

• The Citizenship Act, 1955 stated that a person born abroad after January 26, 1950 would also be a citizen of India, whose father would be a citizen of India. But it was discriminatory on the basis of gender.
• Therefore, this act was amended in 1992. The provision added that a person born abroad after January 26, 1950, would be considered a citizen of India, whose father or mother, either or both of them, is a citizen of India.
• This was followed by an amendment. It was added that citizenship will be granted only if the child is registered in the Indian Embassy of that country within a year of being born.

On the basis of registration, the right to be a citizen of India is a rule in this act. For example, if a person marries a citizen of India, he will get citizenship of India. But the condition for this was that the citizen who is getting married has been living in India for 7 years.

Who can not be a citizen of India ?

In this act, rules for abolishing citizenship were made in three ways.

– Voluntary renunciation. Suppose you give up your citizenship by yourself.

– Termination. Suppose your citizenship is dismissed. If you took citizenship of another country, then citizenship of India will be snatched away from you.

– And one way was to deprive you of your citizenship. The government can take away your citizenship if the citizen is found involved in some kind of anti-national work. For example, you are spying for an enemy country. Let’s work against the country in the war.

This is a matter of the Citizenship Act, 1955.

Now we know what is happening in the new bill that is causing a ruckus. What are the changes in the new Citizenship Ammendment Bill 2019 ?

The bill passed in Parliament will replace the Citizenship Act 1955. Citizens of India especially Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains and Buddhists who fled from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and surrounding countries due to religious persecution will be given citizenship as a Law of Civil Amendment Bill. Now they do not need any documents to prove anything. (People of Muslim religion are not included in this bill) Earlier, for this to happen, they had to spend 11-12 years as refugees in India, but according to the new bill, they would become eligible for it in just 6-7 years. In simple language, the government is preparing to change the definition of ‘illegal migrants’ through this bill. The bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha on July 15, 2016.

Who are these minorities and how will the BJP benefit from this ?

Minorities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and people of Christianity. At the Silchar rally on January 4, 2019, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi also talked about passing this bill. Many people are saying that this move of the government can lead to a huge increase in the votes of Hinduism. Because there is a good number of people in Assam who come from Bangladesh and are Hindu by religion. Now they will get the constitutional right to live in India.

What is the government’s favor ?

BJP says that people who are being harassed on religious grounds, properties are being seized, worship is being attacked, women are being targeted, giving them citizenship in a simple way is the aim. It should not be seen from communal point of view. Intruders are intruders, it becomes our moral & constitutional duty to distinguish those who come due to harassment.

Senior leader of BJP Assam says on this bill, “What can be greater in a democratic country than Parliament. Our party leaders have spoken with all the constituent parties on this issue. The result of this conversation is that there will be a difference in the format that was earlier in this bill and now the format will come. We have already been saying publicly that refugees coming from neighboring countries will be given citizenship of India under religious persecution. Now whatever happens will be on the floor of the Parliament.”

And what are the arguments of the opposition ?

Assam’s farmer leader says, “The Constitution of India gives our MPs the right to work for the rights of Indian citizens, but the current government has brought this bill to bring the citizens of countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan to settle here. Even if this bill does not endanger the lives of the people of Assam. This bill is completely unconstitutional and we oppose it. It is written in Article 14 of the Indian Constitution that citizenship cannot be granted to anyone on the basis of religion. BJP wants to strengthen the agenda of Hinduism through this bill. “

At the same time, human rights activists say that this bill is against the basic principles of the Constitution of India. The opposition’s arguments are saying that this bill is unconstitutional, India’s idea will change radically. When India & Pakistan became 2 countries, Pakistan became a country of Muslims, but India imagined that it would be a country of equality for people of all religions, castes.

Media Against This CAB Bill 2019 ?

The controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) for granting citizenship to non-Muslim illegal migrants from 3 neighboring countries has been under discussion for some days. But yes, this is perhaps the first time since 2014, ‘ladies and gentlemen’, when the head of the ruling party’s news channel publicly opposed the BJP’s top. However, it was unexpected for many viewers.

Times Now debated “#BJPBattlesCABCharge” with anchors Rahul Shivshankar and Navika Kumar at pains to explain how the bill applied to Muslim majority countries where minorities were persecuted.

On CNN News18, Marya Shakil called the Bill a “showdown”. India Today asked if this is the “foundation for Hindu rashtra?” and if CAB endorses the “two-nation theory?”, while News X called it “#HinduHomelandDebate”.

Republic TV : On “#CABWar”, Arnab Goswami, who had opposed the Bill last week, began the debate saying “While I have reservations over the CAB. While I do feel that Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Afghans… bringing them to India if they can technically prove that they are non-Muslims is wrong, while I disagree with all that, I must say that I completely agree with Amit Shah… that the party which is the most communal and has divided the country is the Congress party…”

BJP spokesperson G.V.L. Narasimha Rao who featured across channels, justified the BJP’s position: “Anyone who is not a citizen of India, and who is actually a citizen of any of these three countries, will be given citizenship basis their minority religion, as those minorities aren’t equal citizens in those countries.”

Later in the debate Goswami expressed his feelings on CAB: “Foreigners can come for tourism, foreigners cannot take away my land, foreigners cannot take away my way of life, my job, my agriculture… and I don’t give a damn if the foreigners are Hindus.”

Aaj Tak : Here too the controversial CAB came up for heated debate.

The debate started with Chitra Tripathi at #HallaBol, but surprisingly this time we could not see Modi’s favorite anchor Anjana Om Kashyap who regularly ran the show.

Members of each political party (members of BJP, Congress and NCP party participated in the show) were facing tough and sharp questions of Chitra Tripathi. Especially Sudhanshu Trivedi (BJP MP of Rajya Sabha) lost his control and shouted in a loud voice. He came to speak in favor of the CAB but was speaking on other topics. The worst argument he gave on rape cases… Once he shouted directly at the female anchor.

But at the end of the day NDTV India’s 9:00 pm program with Ravish Kumar made me feel satisfied. Bill was correctly described here : “Welcome to India, the country which believes in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is a family),’’commented anchor Ravish Kumar, “which just passed a bill allowing immigrants (into India) from three neighbouring countrie s– except Muslims.”

Kumar pointed out that India doesn’t have only three neighbouring countries: “Are Sri Lanka’s Tamil and Buddhists not exploited there? Many Muslims from the Shia and Ahmadiyya community are tortured and killed in Pakistan,” he observed.

At the end of his article I would like to quote Justice Santosh Hegde, who stated that “Classification on the basis of religion is not justified … Discrimination on the basis of religion is contrary to the Constitution.”