The Citizenship Amendment Bill slated to be introduced in the current session of Parliament would not be a replica of the last Bill that lapsed with the term of the 16th Lok Sabha but would have some “additional clarifications”, providing some definitions regarding illegal immigrants and refugees to bring clarity on provisions of the Bill, according to a Home Ministry official.
A contentious legislation, the Bill seeks to amend a 1955 law to allow Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan apply for Indian citizenship, while keeping out Muslims.
“The Bill had lapsed after the 16th Lok Sabha’s term got over. It has been studied further and some clarifications added. These will help bring more clarity on application of the provisions,” the official said, not elaborating on the new definition of illegal immigrants or refugees.
The Bill comes in the backdrop of Home Minister Amit Shah’s reiteration in Parliament that the exercise of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) would not only be implemented across the country but also repeated in Assam. The exercise has left more than 19 lakh people out of the list of citizens in the north-east Indian state.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill has been mired in controversy for leaving out only Muslims.
The government maintains that the Bill aims to grant citizenship to such minorities who have faced religious persecution in other countries. Coming in the backdrop of NRC, the Bill, in its last avatar, also faced opposition in Assam, where there were concerns about dilution of ethnic culture and change in demography. Many said it was in violation of Assam Accord.
On Monday, the Centre reviewed security situation in the Northeast in light of expected fallout of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in these states. Chiefs of various intelligence agencies from the states, Assam Rifles and paramilitary forces attended the meeting, chaired by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval.
The meeting, convened by the National Security Council Secretariat, headed by Doval, analysed the intelligence inputs coming from the ground on opposition to the Bill, a Home Ministry official said.
In the meeting, top officials gave detailed presentations on the findings of their respective agencies about the protests and people’s attitude towards the proposed legislation.
In the list of business for the ongoing session, the Bill is listed as, “To amend the definition of illegal migrant, reduction in the number of years of residency period to obtain Indian Citizenship through naturalization and to empower Central Govt. to cancel the registration of Overseas Citizen of India card in case of any violations.”
The Bill was first introduced in 2016 and sought to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to allow Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan apply for Indian citizenship. It kept out Muslims.
The existing Act allows an immigrant to apply for citizenship if s/he has lived in India for 12 months immediately before the application, and for 11 of the last 14 years.
On July 19, 2016, the government introduced the Amendment Bill in Lok Sabha, relaxing the 11-year cutoff to six years for people of six religions from the three countries. Also, in 2015 and 2016, the government put out two notifications exempting such immigrants from the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 - which provide for deportation - to let them continue living in India if they arrived before December 31, 2014.
The Bill’s introduction also assumes significance as it is likely to be the first step in implementing NRC across the country - a promise that Shah made last month.
The Home Minister had said in Kolkata last month, “Before NRC, the BJP government is going to bring the Citizen Amendment Bill. All Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Christian refugees who have come to India under this Bill will be given citizenship of India forever. I want to assure all Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist and Christian refugees that you will not be forced to leave India...”
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