Caa Explained

CAA: CONTROVERSY AND TRUTH
The citizenship amendment act is basically about giving citizenship to the minorities of Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Afghanistan. In this article we will be discussing about the historical
background, legal position and controversies and actual position of CAA.s we all know that
Historical Background
As we all know that India got Independence on 15 th August 1947 but with the tragic partition of
India. It is an historic fact that India was divided on the basis of religion but India never kept that
identity unlike Pakistan. We never said any Muslim to leave India as it was not our culture and
eternal values, we provided citizenship to every person who was of Indian origin but Pakistan did
not do so and declared themselves as an Islamic Nation under constitution of Pakistan in 1956.
As we also know that Bangladesh was called a part of Pakistan and was known as East Pakistan
till 1971, after they become a separate country the adopted the word secularism in their
constitution but in 1977 the word Secularism was removed from the constitution by the 5 th
amendment and by 1988 they declared Islam as State Religion. Now after partition the Religious
Persecution was happening in both West and East Pakistan on Non-Muslim Communities and
even after the East Pakistan was changed into Bangladesh those persecutions never stopped
which can be seen through the drastic decrease in the population of Non-Muslim Communities in
both East and West Pakistan. So the people of Non-Muslim communities left behind in these two
countries were merely the victims of Accepting the Partition by leaders of India at that time and
as a result they faced serious religious persecution in those two countries. Now because of those
persecutions many people of Non-Muslim communities came back to India within few years of
partition but a lot of them either didn’t came back because they didn’t wanted to leave their
properties or was not able to come back because they weren’t allowed as they were lower casts
and whom we now know as Scheduled Caste communities. The sheer example of persecution
can be seen in the statement given by Liaquat Ali Khan who was the 1 st Prime Minister of
Pakistan and he said “If Dalits went to India then who would clean the Streets of Lahore”, so it
can be easily seen the status of Non-Muslim communities in Pakistan then and now. On the hand
India never discriminated anyone for granting citizenship as our eternal concept has always said
उत्तरं यत समुद्रस्य, हिमाद्रे श्चैव दक्षिणं |
वर्ष तद भारतं, नाम भारती यत्र संतति which means that the area between Himalayas in north and
ocean in south is India and people residing in this area are called Indians. But by partition of
India special circumstances arose by which religious minorities in Pakistan and now Bangladesh
has to face religious persecution. So it was our historic commitment. In 1950, there was a pact
between hon’ble prime minister of India Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and Prime minister of Pakistan
Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, that India and Pakistan both will respect and preserve the rights and
properties of minorities in respective countries. Although some may argue that the minorities
referred in that pact was cultural one but we all know facts and circumstances of that pact that
the minorities referred in that pact were religious one as India was partitioned on the grounds of
religion and this pact was signed to protect the religious minorities of both the countries. It is
evident that India has hold its part of bargain and drastic decrease in population of religious
minorities has shown that Pakistan and after 1971 Bangladesh has not kept their part. Mahatma
Gandhi has said that if Hindus and Sikhs are not happy in Pakistan then it is duty of Indian Govt.
to provide them security and livelihood. Although Gandhi Ji also talks about nationalist Muslims
that if they want to come back then then they must be allowed but they were not religiously
persecuted in Pakistan, if they are facing any other type of persecution then their application can
be considered. It was the rights of minorities of Pakistan at that time to claim Indian Citizenship
because India was divided on religious grounds these countries were declared Islamic Nations. In
a declared Islamic nation a person who is not a follower of Islamic is called a ‘Dhimmi’ (second
class citizen) and the rights of that persons is decided by state. So, their persecution based on
their religion is imminent. Also in Islamic nation there are blasphemy laws which means if any
word either spoken or written is against the religious feelings of Islam then there is punishment
extending to death penalty. In Pakistan most of the non-muslim young girls are accused of
blasphemy so that they can be abducted and forcefully married and converted to Islam.
Is CAA illegal
Let’s look at the newly passed amendment in Indian Citizenship Act,1955. There is an
amendment in section 2 subsection(1) clause(b) in which a proviso was inserted which states
“Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian
community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the
31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under
clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the
application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder,
shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act”. In this amendment there is
relaxation given to minorities of three neighboring countries on the basis of religious
persecution. Now it is nowhere written that this law will take citizenship of nay existing Indian
citizen. It is the law to stop prosecution of the refugees of these countries under passport act,
1920 and foreigners act, 1946. Now we talk about that whether this particular amendment is
illegal or not. This amendment has been challenged on the ground that it is violative of article 14
of Indian constitution. Now there are two concepts in article 14 i.e. equality before law and equal
protection of law. By equality before law it means that all persons are equal before every law in
this country. By this part it may seem that CAA is unconstitutional but there is second part that
says that state shall ensure equal protection of law and by this part supreme court evolved
doctrine of intelligible differentia and reasonable nexus. By intelligible differentia means that the
people who are being treated unequally form a certain group which can be reasonably classified
and by reasonable nexus we mean that there has to be reason behind that classification. If a law
passes these two tests then it is constitutional and if it fails any one test then it is
unconstitutional. Lets look CAA, first of all there is reasonable classification that the minorities
of three neighbouring countries are being segregated on the basis of their religion because they
are minorities in these countries. Also there is reasonable nexus that these three countries are
declared Islamic nations and they are facing serious religious persecution since these countries
were declared Islamic nations. So, legally this law is not unconstitutional and will be declared
constitutional as it has passed both tests of intelligible differentia and reasonable nexus. It is also
a legal principle regarding right to equality that unequal are treated as equals then it will be
inequality.
1947
West Pakistan -14.2%
East Pakistan – 28%
1951
3.44% - west Pakistan
23.2% - East Pakistan
2011
Bangladesh – 11.7%
Pakistan -

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CAA: CONTROVERSY AND TRUTH

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