Citizenship Amendment Act

Email sent to Chief Justice of India on 27-Jan-2020

Respected Chief Justice of India,

Whole nation is burning on issues of NRC, NPR and CAA. NRC exercise in Assam resulted 19 lakhs people excluded from the list, out of which 13 Lakhs are  Hindus and 6 lakhs are Muslims as per media report. It raises following questions

1. How many of 19L people are holding either Indian passport or Pan card or ration card or Aadhar?
2. Where these 19L people will go
1. detention center
2. push back to Bangladesh
3. move out of Assam and settle in other states
3. Will these 19L people be declared as illegal immigrant and have to surrender their passport/Pan card/ration card or Aadhar, if they have one.

As per Assam accord all these 19L people have to leave Assam. Important question is which state will take them.

It is extremely important that Honorable Supreme Court issues clarification on above points. Because NRC was executed under direct supervision of SC.

Last month Govt of India introduced Citizen Amendment Act to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31-Dec-2014. Critical questions are

1. Why there is a cut off date of 2014. What will happen to those  Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian who have entered after 2014. Many of them might have got Indian passport/PAN card/ration card/Aadhar.
2. According to Intelligence Bureau​ records, the immediate beneficiaries of the CAA will be 31,313 people who have been given long term visa on the basis of their claim of religious persecution in their respective country and wanted Indian citizenship. Lets give Indian citizenship to all of them. Why do we need CAA for that?
3. Honorable HM said in the parliament that persecution in Bangladesh happened only during military rule i.e. from 1975 to 1990. Why did Govt of India consider that those Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian who entered India without valid documents or over stayed between 1971 to 1975 and 1991 to 2014 are no longer illegal immigrants? They are indeed illegal immigrant as they entered India without being persecuted and without valid document (subsequently they might have obtained ration card or aadhar to become Indian citizen). They came to India for greener pasture.
4.  If Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain, Parsis or Christians are persecuted now in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, why can't they come to India? Logic of cut off date is not understandable.
5. Why definition of illegal immigrant is changed based on religion with a cut off date of 31-Dec-2014?
6. Why has period of residency been reduced to 5 years from 11 years for persons from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, belonging to the six religious communities as mentioned earlier. Can we have one law for Muslims and another law for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community?
7. Why is CAA silent on persecuted Hindus in SriLanka? India has agreed to repatriate 5.06 lakhs people of Indian origin from Sri Lanka under India-Sri Lanka agreements of 1964,1974 & 1986. 3.35 lakh people have returned to India between Oct’64 -Dec’06 as per annual report of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
8. MHA stated that 3,04,269 refugees from Sri Lanka have entered India during the period of July’1983-August’2012 due to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. Of these 99,469 have been repatriated to Sri Lanka up to March 1995. Since India has already accepted 3.35 lakh people from SriLanka till Dec-06, so current 2 lakh SriLankan refuges should also be given Indian citizenship like Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain, Parsis or Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan as proposed in CAA.
9. If Hindus are persecuted in Muslims countries, they will be given Indian citizenship. But if Hindus are persecuted in Non Muslim countries, they will remain as refuge. This is discriminatory law. 
10. CAA does not mention about persecuted Muslims either in Muslim country like Pakistan or non Muslim country like Myanmar. Govt's argument is that there are many Muslims countries to take care of persecuted Muslims. By the same logic there are many Christian countries to take care of persecuted Christians. So far not a single Muslim country have accepted Rohinga refugee from Myanmar or Ahmadiyyas from Pakistan. Bengali Muslims (along with Bengali Hindus) in East Pakistan were systematically persecuted by West Pakistan between 1947 and 1971. So, Muslims can be persecuted in Muslim countries.
11. As per the information provided by the government in Lok Sabha on 01 March 2016, there are 2,89,394 stateless persons living in India as on 31 December 2014. This is a very small number. Actual illegal immigrants may be more. Fact of the matter is that all illegal immigrant irrespective of religious background got Indian citizenship in the form of ration card or aadhar immediately after crossing the border bribing politicians and govt officials. We cannot harass 1.3 billion law abiding Indians to catch 2-3 millions illegal immigrants through NRC.

Regarding Pan India NRC

1. Honorable HM announced within and outside Parliament that NRC will be implemented pan India. It created lot of confusion and panic.
2. Assam accord mandated NRC exercise in Assam. But there is no such accord for other states. Why NRC will be implemented all over India? 
3. People who are excluded from NRC in Assam can be relocated to other states (Bangladesh is not going to take back any person) unless they are put up at detention center which is absurd. Where excluded people from NRC if implemented in other states will go?
4. Entire population of Assam (3.5 crore) barring certain tribal areas had undergone painful and humiliating experience of proving that they are residing in Assam before 24-Mar-1971 to identify 19 lakh illegal immigrant which is 5% of its population. Majority of illegal immigrants since 24-Mar-1971 are from Bangladesh (number is negligible from Pakistan and Afghanistan since 24-Mar-1971) and they have settled mostly in Assam, West Bengal and Tripura. So Pan India NRC exercise except West Bengal and Tripura will result insignificant number in the exclusion list that does not justify the cost to implement NRC keeping in view agony and suffering of the people to provide proof of residency.
5. On 28 July 2015, the government stated that 1 crore displaced people have migrated from Pakistan to India since 1947 (both West Pakistan & East Pakistan – present-day Bangladesh) - 89 lakh between 1947 to 1958 and 11 lakh between 1964-1971. Presumably they all got Indian citizenship by now. Is it possible for them to prove that they moved to India before 1971?
6. 2011 census data shows
1. India has 0.4% foreign-born population. (14% in UK, 12.3% in US)
2. 5.5 million people in India had reported their last residence outside the country - very small number. 
3. 2.3 million (42 per cent) came from Bangladesh 
4. 0.7 million (12.7 per cent) from Pakistan. 
5. The number of immigrants from Afghanistan was low at 6,596.
6. 76% (1.7 million) of the Bangladeshi immigrants were staying in India before 1991
7. 79% (0.55 million) of the Pakistani immigrants were staying in India before 1991
8. West Bengal hosts 82 per cent of 2.3 million Bangladeshi immigrants, followed by Tripura (9 per cent) and Assam (3 per cent).
9. Among Pakistani immigrants, 28 per cent of 0.7 million were staying in Punjab, 17% in Delhi, 15% in Haryana and 9% in Rajasthan, 8% in Maharashtra and 4% in Gujarat.
7. Above data shows immigration has come down drastically from Pakistan and Bangladesh between 1992 to 2011. So, why do we need discriminatory law like CAA to control foreign-born population. Between 1992 to 2011 number of immigrants from Bangladesh was little over 4.4 lakh. If we assume 65% of them were Hindu, 16.8% of current Hindu population of Bangladesh moved to India between 1992 to 2011  i.e. 0.85% per year. Data does not suggest that Hindus from Bangladesh came to India because of persecution. 
8. Above data also confirms Pan India NRC is completely unjustified. 
9. Govt's plan to implement NRC across India has two objectives
1. Identify those Muslims who have entered India without valid documents or over stayed after 24-Mar-1971 and subsequently managed to get Indian citizenship fraudulently. Make them stateless and put them up at detention center or repatriate them to Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan .
2. Identify those Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain, Parsis or Christians who have entered India without valid documents or over stayed between 24-Mar-1971 and 31-Dec-2014 and subsequently managed to get Indian citizenship fraudulently. Protect them through CAA under the pretext of persecution (which was not always the case) and give them Indian citizenship.

CAA violates article 14

1. CAA negates intelligible differentia. 
2. Failure to include persecuted Ahmadiyyas from Pakistan or Sri Lankan Tamils do not make differential rational or reasonable classification. 
3. CAA has malicious intent to isolate illegal Muslims immigrants from illegal Hindu immigrants using persecution as an excuse. So, classification created by CAA is arbitrary.
4. Selection of cut off date as 31-Dec-2014 is arbitrary. We cannot assume that there was no persecution after the cut off date or there will be no persecution in future, So, classification created by cut off date is irrational.
5. Inclusion of Afghanistan and exclusion of Myanmar, SriLanka is baffling. Both are Buddhists dominated country, one persecutes Muslims and other persecutes Hindu and christian Tamils. This classification (Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan) is also noxious as it targets Muslim countries only.
6. CAA focuses only religious persecution, not political persecution. CAA does not give any relief to persecuted Tibetans refuges living in India for decades. So, it is discriminatory as it attempts to protect persecuted Buddhists from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, but heeds no attention to the sufferings of Tibetan Buddhists from communist regime in China.
7. Lowering the period of residency for ‘Citizenship by Naturalization’ to 5 years from 11 years for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jain, Parsis or Christians discriminates Muslim from other religious groups. This classification is venomous too.
8. Justice Subba Rao in Lachman Das v. State of Punjab (1963) case noted while interpreting article 14, “Over emphasis on the doctrine of classification or an anxious and sustained attempt to discover some basis for classification may gradually and imperceptibly deprive the article of its glorious content,” he further said. “That process would inevitably end in substituting the doctrine of classification for the doctrine of equality: the fundamental right to equality before the law, and equal protection of the laws may be replaced by the doctrine of classification.”

In summary

1. We can show compassion to persecuted people from anywhere in the world (not just minorities from Muslim countries only) on case to case basis regardless of religious background. But we cannot afford to take 4 million Ahmadiyyas and 8 million Hindus from Pakistan or 17 million Hindus from Bangladesh or 2.5 million Tamil Hindus/Christian from SriLanka.
2. CAA goes against the idea of secular India. CAA must be scrapped.  
3. Amendment to passport rule as notified on 7-Sep-2015 must be withdrawn since it is based on religion.
4. Definition of illegal immigrant must not be based on religion. Anyone who has entered India without valid document or over stayed is illegal immigrant. It does not matter whether he is Hindu or Sikh or Buddhist or Jain or Parsi or Christians or Muslim.
5. NRC in Assam was necessitated because of Assam Accord. There is no such accord for other states. So, Pan India NRC must be stopped.
6. We need complete clarity about fate of 19 lakh people who are excluded from NRC in Assam.
7. We must identify illegal immigrants or people who got Indian citizenship fraudulently (regardless of religious background and country) with a cut off date of 31-Dec-1990. All such people must be made stateless or repatriate if possible. Reason for 1990 cut off year is when military rule ended in Bangladesh. Such identification should be based on lie detector.