CAA Imposed: Basics Features

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed by the Parliament of India on December 11, 2019. The primary objective of this act is to safeguard the rights of persecuted minorities from neighbouring countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.

What It Says
The CAA, 2019, states that citizens of neighbouring countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, who entered India or crossed borders and took refuge on or before December 31, 2014, would be granted Indian citizenship if they belong to the Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist, Jain, and Christian communities.

Exemption of Muslims
The CAA does not include the Muslim community. However, all Muslim foreign nationals seeking refuge in India will be covered under the older citizenship law, which states that any resident living in India for 12 years would be granted Indian citizenship, irrespective of their origin and religion. This process involves various formalities and investigations.

Criticism
While the CAA is a significant initiative towards safeguarding the rights of people seeking asylum in India, the exemption of the Muslim community has been a point of criticism. The amendment was made for people who are minorities in their respective countries, but once they cross the boundaries of India, they should be treated equally.

In terms of security, any of those could be a potential threat to national security, regardless of their religion.

The exclusion of any specific community propagates the ideology of discrimination. Critics of the Constitution of India label this as an unconstitutional law.

A Political Move?
Many opposition parties label this as a political move, but the central government claims it is justified on every ground. However, the timing is always before an election. In 2019, it was proposed by the Union Minister for Home Affairs in 2016 and referred to a joint parliamentary committee. This committee submitted the report at the time of the election in 2019.

The report spread chaos in the country, and the Muslim community started protesting during Covid19. The government did not consider these protests.

The right-wing government cast polarization between the majority Hindus and the minority Muslims. The rules for CAA 2019 were formed, and the law was imposed on March 11, 2014, just before the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP’s central government is often accused of being anti-Muslim and anti-minorities (the extreme right-wing). The BJP government uses polarization as a major election strategy.

Unconstitutional?
The Citizenship Amendment Act has been proven and claimed unconstitutional. The idea of exempting the Muslim community harms the idea of secularism mentioned in the preamble of the Constitution of India. The Union of India cannot judge and give or cut benefits to anyone within the boundaries of the nation based on their religion. Anyone who is not even a citizen of the Republic of India is protected by the law and constitution.

A big problem with fundamental rights. The CAA contradicts Article 14 of the Indian Constitution (the fundamental right) which ensures that everyone is treated the same before the law. The right to equality Article 14 enshrines the principle of equality before the law and equal protection of laws within the territory of India.

Article 15 gives protection against discrimination against anyone in the territory of India on the grounds of religion, caste, race, or place of birth. It says one should be given equal opportunity before the law. Here, excluding Muslims in the process of getting citizenship is a matter of discrimination between religions mentioned and minority Muslims. It tampers with this fundamental right.

The Constitution of India declares India to be a secular state in articles 25 to 28. By excluding the Muslim community and favouring exclusively some other religious groups, it raises a question on the commitment of the state to secularism.

The problem with the Assam Accord is another point of concern. The Northeast India region faces the problem of illegal immigrants more than other parts of India, and the state of Assam is at the top of this list. To deal with this problem in 1971, the government of India revised the electoral database of Assam and signed a memorandum of settlement with the leaders. This memorandum is called Assam 1971.
This memorandum ensures the identification and deportation of illegal foreigners, predominantly Bangladeshi immigrants. The CAA violates the norms of this accord. It gives legal status to those who are allegedly a threat to Assam resources because they are not Indian but foreigners and do not have the right to use these resources.

Protests Across India
Before it became an act, the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) sparked tremendous protests across the country. From students to artists, from litterateurs to politicians, many recorded their resistance. Starting from December 2019, the protests lasted up to the end of 2020. But the government didn’t even take a single step towards resolving the dispute, but cashed in on it, defaming the particular community and the liberal lobby of the country.
Protests were seen in many tier-one cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Lucknow, Kanpur, Pune, and Chennai, as well as in smaller towns and rural areas. Academic institutions and social organizations also took part very actively in the protests. Famous personalities like Ramchandra Guha, Naseeruddin Shah, Manoj Bajpai, Taapsee Pannu, Richa Chadha, etc., also raised their voices against this bill.

Conclusion
The Citizenship Amendment Act, of 2019, was enacted and imposed by the government on March 11, 2014. Despite having many unconstitutional elements, it was passed. The violation of sections 14 to 18 and 24 to 28 of the Constitution of India are ignored. The idea of secularism, declared in the preamble, is harmed. Equality is dismissed, and this creates a divide.

Due to these reasons, opposition parties refused it, but the government passed this bill unconstitutionally and undemocratically in the Parliament of India. Why?

Because the government wants to create chaos. The BJP’s main strategy is to polarize the people of India so that they would only vote based on religion. The communal disharmony is the tool for the BJP to polarize people and get votes.

So this is advice for the people of majority communities: do not be polarized, focus on important issues like healthcare, education, unemployment, inflation, corruption, etc., and then vote for the betterment of India.

Jai Hind!

For further reading, refer to the best books available

1. CAA: An Assault On Fundamental Rights
2. The CAA-NRC: The Truth Explained
3. This Land Is Mine, I Am Not Of This Land CAA-NRC And The Manufacture Of Statelessness