On 12th December 2019, the Parliament passed the Citizenship Amendment Bill amending the Citizenship Act, 1955. The Bill seeks to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan and who arrived in India till 31 st December 2014, eligible for Indian citizenship. A plain reading of the Act makes it clear that it is unlikely to stand the test of Article 14 and 21 of the Constitution. In this essay, I wish to write about why this Act is legally flawed and how it exposes the agenda of the ruling establishment. The Context In India, citizenship is acquired on the following grounds: i) by birth ii) by descent iii) by registration iv) by naturalisation v) by incorporation of territory. All other persons who are living in India and do not fall under any of these 5 categories are termed as illegal immigrants . The Foreigners Act, 1946, and the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, would apply to them ...
A collection of personal views on contemporary issues