No automatic citizenship, says MHA as CAA protests rage

Amid protests raging over the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 across India, the Government on Monday sought to clear the air by saying that no non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh will become Indian citizen "automatically" and they will have to meet "certain conditions".

As Opposition and civil society cornered the government over non-inclusion of Muslims from these countries, an informal note shared by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said that the Act does not target any religious community from abroad and it only provides a "mechanism for some migrants" who may otherwise have been called illegal depriving them of the opportunity to apply for Indian citizenship.

"The Central government will frame rules to operationalise the provisions of the CAA. No migrant from these communities will become Indian citizen automatically. He will have to apply online and the competent authority would see whether he fulfills all the qualifications for registration or naturalisation as an Indian citizen," a senior MHA official said quoting from the note.

Citizenship of India can be acquired by birth, by descent, by registration or by naturalisation or by incorporation of territory as per the Citizenship Act, 1955. The CAA allows persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Jains, Buddhists, and Christians from three neighbouring countries to acquire citizenship by relaxing the residency period from 11 years to five years.

Sources said the new amendments do not take away any existing legal provision which enables any foreigner of "any class, creed, religion, category, etc to apply" for Indian citizenship after fulfilling minimum legal requirements. No existing Indian citizen is affected by the CAA, as it seeks to grant citizenship to "particular foreigners who have suffered persecution".

Providing details, the informal note said that 2,830 Pakistanis, 912 Afghans, and 172 Bangladeshis were given Indian citizenship in the last six years and many of them ere Muslims. "Such migrants continue to get Indian citizenship and shall continue to get it if they fulfill the eligibility conditions already provided in the law for registration or naturalisation," it said.

The opposition has objected to this saying the Act is discriminatory in nature and considers religion for the purpose of citizenship. While minorities in these countries need just five years of residency to acquire citizenship, a Muslim will have to wait for 11 years to apply.

The note also spoke about the Joint Committee of Parliament submitting a report on the previous version of the Bill, saying the 30-MP panel has cleared. However, it does not mention that the report tabled in Parliament earlier this January had dissent notes submitted by nine MPs from the Opposition.

It said the government had in 2015-16 legalised the entry and stay of non-Muslim migrants who had come into India up to 31 December 2014 besides making them eligible for a long-term visa to stay in the country for a longer period and the Act now allows them to take citizenship.

Trying to answer criticism that it had discriminated refugees from other countries, the note said 4.61 lakh Tamils of Indian origin from Sri Lanka were given citizenship between 1964 and 2008 while two lakh Burmese of Indian origin were given citizenship during 1962 and 1978.

However, the Opposition claims that none of these actions were based on religion or excluded anyone on the basis of religion.