Written by Johri Cyriac
Up until recently, India’s referred to the citizenship act of 1955 when it comes to deciding the status of an Indian resident.
Under this act, a person who is born in India, or has Indian parentage, or has resided in India over a specified period of time, is eligible for Indian citizenship. The act offered no entry way for illegal migrants to become Indian Citizens. Under the act, an illegal migrant is any foreigner who:
- Enters the country without valid travel documents like a passport or visa
- Enters with documents, but stays beyond the permited time period
These illegal migrants risk jailtime or deportation under the foreigners Act of 1946 and the passport (entry into India) act of 1920.
This act made it difficult to become a citizen, as well. The applicant must have resided in India during the last 12 months and 11 of the previous 14 years
The Bill
However, in 2015 and 2016, the government exempted specified groups of illegal migrants from provisions of the 1946 and 1920 Acts. They were Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who reached India on or before December 31, 2014.
This meant that these particular categories of illegal migrants would not be deported or jailed for being in India without valid documents.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 was introduced in Parliament to amend The Citizenship Act, 1955, so that these specific could be made eligible for citizenship of India. In other words, the bill makes it easier for non-Muslim immigrants from India’s three Muslim-majority neighbors to become citizens of India. By belonging to those six specific religions and three specific countries, one would have to only have resided in India for the last 6 of the previous 14 years instead of 11.
Controversy?
The fundamental criticism of the Bill has been that it specifically targets Muslims. Critics argue that it is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to equality.
The government, however, maintains that the Bill aims to grant citizenship to minorities who have faced religious persecution in Muslim-majority foreign countries. BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have spoken of this Bill as righting the wrongs of history by granting refuge to the sons and daughters of “Ma Bharti”, who were left stranded by Partition.
In the Northeastern states, the prospect of citizenship for massive numbers of illegal Bangladeshi migrants has triggered deep anxieties, including fears of demographic change, loss of livelihood opportunities, and erosion of the indigenous culture.
Almost the entire Northeast was wracked by massive protests for more than a month leading up to the anticipated introduction of the Bill in Rajya Sabha earlier this year.
Johri Cyriac is a 16-year-old writer from Washington D.C. She hopes to one day become a New York Times bestselling author.
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