Scientists, scholars find CAB 'deeply troubling'

As the government prepares to pass the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, over 900 Indian scientists and scholars have expressed fear over the "careful exclusion" of Muslims from the proposed legislation. They said that it was "deeply troubling" to find that the Bill uses religion as a legal criterion to determine citizenship.

The 918 academicians and scientists, including Zoya Hasan and Harbans Mukhia, have issued a joined statement, warning that this would "greatly strain" the pluralistic fabric of the country.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 seeks to provide citizenship to non-documented and persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

"The stated intent of the Bill is to provide refuge to persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries. While we support this laudable objective, we find it deeply troubling that the Bill uses religion as a legal criterion for determining Indian citizenship," the statement said.

They said the idea of India that emerged from the independence movement, and as enshrined in our constitution, is that of a country that aspires to treat people of all faiths equally.

"The use of religion as a criterion for citizenship in the proposed Bill would mark a radical break with this history and would be inconsistent with the basic structure of the constitution. We fear, in particular, that the careful exclusion of Muslims from the ambit of the Bill will greatly strain the pluralistic fabric of the country," they said.

Emphasising that Article 14 of the Constitution prohibits the State from denying "to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India", they have demanded the immediate withdrawal of this Bill and as its replacement request for appropriate legislation that will address the concerns of the refugees and the minorities in a non-discriminatory manner.

"While it is the job of legal experts to determine whether this draft Bill violates the letter of the constitution, it seems certain to us that it violates its spirit," they added.