Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019: Facts, Questions and my opinion
By: Prashant Sharma
Tags: Cabs, Facts, India, Caa, Nrc

Are you one of those who have been in caught up in debates about the Citizenship Amendment Act? Yes or no, either way, I hope you will find this article knowledgeable. The aim of writing this article is to make you aware of this Act and give you the story of both sides(Pro-CAA & Anti-CAA)

#Facts and Questions

What is Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019?

The Act seeks to give citizenship to the illegal immigrant of the religion — Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have lived in India with/without documentation. They will be granted fast track Indian citizenship in six years.

2. Will all of the people belonging to the above-mentioned religions get citizenship?

No. CAA states that only those migrants belonging to the above-mentioned religions and have come to India before December 31, 2014, will be granted citizenship. This is the cut-off date.

3. What about illegal immigrants who came to India after the cut-off date or those who will come in future?

These people will have to follow the same procedure as before. All the paperwork will be same to acquire Indian citizenship, whether they are a Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Cristian, or of any other religion, the CAA is not granting citizenship to these people.

4. What about the people living inside of India?

This Act does not affect any Indian living in this country, irrespective of their religion.

5. What sparked the protests?

Assam

Although protests are happening around the country regarding the Act, the motive of the protests is different in Assam and other north-east states. The protest in Assam is because of the Assam Accord. Which states a different citizenship criterion.

“Citizens of Assam and other northeastern states are opposing the Act out of fear that forced settlement of non-Muslim illegal immigrants in their regions would unfavourably shift the demographic balance and result in sectarian violence.” — Wikipedia

Since the inception of the protests — 4 dead in police firing(2 teenagers), 175 arrested, more than 1400 detained, till 16th of December.

Rest of the country?

Protests started in various parts of the country based on discrimination, by exclusion of persecuted Muslims in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and exclusion of Sri Lankan Hindu Tamils and atheists. Stating that India being a secular country should not be passing a law that discriminates on religion.

Jamia Millia Islamia has become the centre of anti-CAA stir in the capital after violence broke out inside as well as in the vicinity of the campus. On December 15, some (alleged)protestors, had set three buses and police vehicles on fire(Jamia students have maintained that they had no hand in the events), following which police later barged into the university “to control the situation” and roughed up some students according to the statements of various student witnesses.

Testimonies from those present on campus at the time suggest the police targeted individuals indiscriminately, even lobbing tear gas shells in a library where students not participating in the protests were injured and even attacking a cleric and a former Army man who works as a guard.

Similar events also occurred in Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh.

Ten people have been arrested in connection with the violent protests that broke out near Jamia Millia Islamia. None of them was students.

Nationwide protests against this police crackdown — some peaceful, some violent erupted. Many people condemned this police action, from the public to Bollywood and even Hollywood.

CAA protests: After Oxford, Harvard and MIT, London universities demonstrate against police crackdown in Jamia Millia Islamia, AMU. Over 400 students from different US universities have issued a joint statement expressing solidarity with Jamia and AMU students lathi-charged by the Delhi Police — www.firstpost.com

#My Opinions —

These are my personal opinions, and if you don’t like listening to opinions then you can scroll down to the end and drop a like if you liked my article till now. But I highly suggest you give it a try. :D

Why the exclusion of Muslims in CAA? Most of it is a political agenda. But apart from the politics involved let’s see what else. I have written an article about how CAA is a distraction, if you are interested check it out here.

2. Some people are supporting CAA because they think that people protesting against CAA are protesting against people acquiring citizenship (which is true to some extent in North-eastern states but). Most are not protesting for giving citizenship to Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian, they are protesting for the exclusion of Muslims, as there are some persecuted Muslim communities too in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

3. Paranoia has been created among some communities that Muslims will arrive in large number from our neighbouring countries if they are included in CAA.

Which is not true, as CAA only gives citizenship to those who came to India before 31st December 2014. So why this paranoia has been created? The only explanation I can think of is a religious-political reason.

4. CAA + NRC

CAA is also linked with a currently non-existent act of NRC (National Register of citizenship), under which you will need to prove your citizenship, and failing to do so you will no longer be a citizen of India. Which is kind of odd because according to the law, it is “Innocent until proven guilty” but NRC states “Guilty until proven innocent”. Let us look into this too.

Now, I know there are some blind supporters of CAA, but there are some blind protesters of CAA too. Many Anti-CAA protests are also linked with NRC (National Register of Citizens), saying that many or only Muslims will lose citizenship when NRC comes because CAA is giving free citizenship to non-Muslims.

False,

The Citizenship Amendment Act does not affect any Indian living in the country, irrespective of their religion.

So if under NRC you fail to prove that you are a citizen of India then CAA can’t help you unless you are an illegal non-Muslim immigrant from Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan.

The documents required for the NRC can be read here.

Nevertheless, in my opinion, NRC will be a total waste of public money and will definitely affect those illegal immigrants who are Muslims which is one of the basis of protests.

Finally, I would say the only reason I am not supporting CAA is on the secular basis and nothing else, not the NRC, not because it is giving citizenship to Hindus or any other non-Muslims, which I think is a good thing. I don’t support it because I believe in secularism. I would also suggest those who are in protests and not supporting CAA should not be ignorant of facts, what will be the difference between you and those you call ‘Bhakts’.

I am always open to discussions if people want to discuss civilly. Let me know what you think in the comment section. And do like if you liked my article.