Citizens’ Memorandum to India’s Prime Minister and the Minister of Home Affairs against CAA, NRC and NPR
We, the people of India, wish to
communicate our immediate concerns to the Government of India regarding
the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens
(NRC) and the
National Population Register
(NPR), in addition to the police brutality on the ordinary citizens
using their constitutional rights to protest. The Cabinet has decided to
start the process of updating the National Population Register. After
the passage of the CAA, which we strongly oppose, this is the second
dangerous step at setting up a framework to aggressively push for
communal profiling in citizenship rights.
The Assam Accord, while deciding
1971 as the cut-off date for citizenship for all who came to India
after that date, does not differentiate on the basis of religion. The
CAA is a direct assault on the Assam Accord as well as adding a communal
dimension to the issue of “foreigners”. The idea of citizenship is
contained in Part II of the Constitution under Articles 5 to 11. These
Articles were drafted, debated, redrafted and re-debated over a period
of two years, culminating in their final form only on August 12, 1949.
Changes cannot be made in the Constitution simply by a majoritarian
Parliament without any debate or discussion or legal consultations.
We would like to point out the
irregularities or contradictions in the statements issued by the central
government so far, clearly showing that either the government is not
sure about what policy it wants to implement or it deliberately wants to
keep the people of India in the dark. Through these confusing and
anti-people policies, the government also wants to keep people
distracted from the real problems of falling economy, unemployment,
farmer suicides and education and health crisis in India. We need real
answers and not delusions.
Govt.’s claim No 1:
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is not discriminatory—it is the
culture of India to come to the aid of the persecuted. No Indian citizen
will be affected.
The Truth:
The CAA is an assault on the Constitution of India. The Indian
Citizenship Act was adopted in 1955. There are five ways defined of
becoming a citizen, by birth, descent, naturalization, registration,
territorial incorporation. In none of these is religion mentioned. This
was in line with the Constitutional definition of Citizenship which does
not differentiate or discriminate against any person on grounds of
religious belief or caste, class or gender in acquiring citizenship in
India.
The CAA changes this by an
amendment in section 1 b on illegal immigrants. The term “illegal
immigrants” was introduced in 2003 under the Vajpayee Government.
However even though its intention was clear, it did not define illegal
immigrant by religion. The Modi Government has now completed this. In
the CAA it amends Sec 1 b to include “any person belonging to Hindu,
Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan,
Bangladesh or Pakistan who entered India on or before December 2014 will
not be considered an illegal immigrant.”
By this amendment, for the first
time in the history of independent India, religion has become a ground
for becoming a citizen of India. Say that there are two persons who have
been residing in India with the same documents, proof of their
residency but no proof regarding their ancestors. If the person is a
non-Muslim he or she becomes “legal” and if a person is Muslim, he or
she is considered illegal. This is an attack on Article 14 that all
persons are equal before law, and a part of the basic structure of the
constitution. It is highly discriminatory on another ground too. Why
select only these three countries out of about 8-9 that surround India -
Tibet/China, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives,
Pakistan, and Afghanistan, where persecuted minorities of all identities
may exist. The Act is selective and therefore discriminatory. No data
regarding the actual number of (non-Muslim) refugees expected from the
three chosen countries (or refugees that have been given Indian
citizenship so far) has ever been provided by the government. How many
Bangladeshi infiltrators have been deported from India so far, has never
been made clear, nor do we have any communication in this regard with
the three chosen countries.
The second amendment in the Act
concerns the number of years required to be resident in India to be
eligible to apply for citizenship. This is called the citizenship by
naturalisation process in Sec 6.1 of the original Act of 1955. The
further details of qualification for naturalisation are in Schedule III
of the Act. It states that any person who has been resident of India for
the preceding eleven years is eligible for citizenship by
naturalisation. There is no mention of religion. However the CAA 2019
reduces the number of years of residency required on the basis of
religion to five years for all from the three countries mentioned
earlier, except Muslims. This too is clearly discriminatory.
In September 2015, prior to the
amendments to the CAA, the Modi Government in an entirely surreptitious
manner and behind the back of Parliament, made changes in the Passport
Entry into India Act 1920 and the Foreigners Act 1946. These amendments
permitted the same selected groups chosen on religious grounds to stay
on in India if they had come before Dec 31, 2014. The same wording as in
the CAA was inserted in 2015 into the two Acts, These changes show the
planned moves of this Government to subvert the constitution of India by
linking rights of people and citizenship to exclude those who belong to
a specific religious community, the Muslims.
Govt.’s claim No 2:
The CAA has nothing to do with National Register of Citizens (NRC).
This is totally separate and opposition is trying to falsely link the
two.
The Truth:
The CAA and the NRC are closely interconnected. The BJP plan is to
first implement the CAA which will give citizenship rights to all
non-Muslims from the three countries, Afghanistan, Bangladesh or
Pakistan. Then the NRC will identify “infiltrators”. What is the
difference between infiltrators and refugees? Only the Muslims do not
qualify in CAA as refugees, and are therefore infiltrators. The deadly
link has been made clear by BJP as can be seen in the following
examples:
In April 2019 Amit Shah said,
“First the CAB will come. All refugees will get citizenship. Then NRC
will come. This is why refugees should not worry, but infiltrators
should.
Understand the chronology—CAB
will come and then NRC. NRC is not just for Bengal, it’s for the entire
country.” (video on BJP official website)
December 9, 2019: Amit Shah said
in Parliament that a nationwide NRC would follow the passing of the
CAA. During the debate on CAA in Lok Sabha, he said, “We will bring the
NRC across the country. Not a single infiltrator will be spared.”
December 19, 2019: JP Nadda, the
BJP Working President, stated that the CAA would be implemented and,
“going forward, NRC also will be brought in”. He continued, “India is
marching ahead under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will continue to
do so. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act will be implemented, so will the
NRC in future.”
No, it is not the opposition
that has linked the CAA and NRC, but it is the diabolical plan of the
BJP of which this is the key link.
On 8th January 2020, a privilege
notice has been served in the parliament against Union Home Minister
Amit Shah, accusing him of misleading the Parliament on National
Register of Citizens (NRC).
Govt.’s claim No 3:
Modi said at the Delhi rally on December 22: "I want to let the 130
crore citizens of India know that since my Government has come to power,
since 2014 there has been no discussion on NRC anywhere”
The Truth:
This totally wrong. On June 20, 2019, in the customary address to a
Joint Session of Parliament the President of India said in his speech
“Illegal infiltrators pose a major threat to our internal security. This
is leading to social imbalance and putting a huge pressure on limited
livelihood opportunities. My Government has decided to implement the
process of National Register of Citizens on a priority basis in areas
affected by infiltrators… While on the one hand Government is working to
identify the infiltrators, on the other it is also fully committed to
protecting the victims of persecution due to their faith.” The
President’s speech is a policy statement prepared by the Government. So
how can the PM say there has been no discussion?
On November 21, 2019: Amit Shah
said in the Rajya Sabha, “The process of National Register of Citizens
(NRC) will be carried out across the country.” Was this statement made
without discussion?
There are nine official
announcements to implement NRC by Ministers of the Government in their
replies to parliament. This is apart from innumerable similar
pronouncements in public speeches. Were all these official statements
made without discussion? Is prime Minister Modi withdrawing them? This
means that the said Ministers were guilty of misleading Parliament.
Did the Prime Minister lie to 130 crore Indians when he said NRC was never discussed?
Govt.’s claim No 4:
The Prime Minister, his ministerial colleagues, the party spokespersons
and their crony media friends have been accusing the opposition of
spreading lies and claimed that the NRC process has not been legalised.
The Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishan Reddy, has said: “A
countrywide NRC had not been notified so far and no one should fear.”
The Truth:
The law for the NRC was adopted in 2003 during the Vajpayee Government
with L.K.Advani as the Home Minister. For the first time in India’s
history it was decided by the then Government to have a National
Register of Indian Citizens. This was done through an amendment to the
Citizenship Act 1955. One of the amendments to the Act was the addition
of Clause 14a which reads: Clause 14a (2) The Central Government may
maintain a National Register of Indian Citizens and for that purpose
establish a National Registration Authority. (3) …The Registrar General
of India shall act as the National Registration Authority and he shall
function as the Registrar General of Citizen Registration.”
For the first time, the concept
of a National Register of Citizens was introduced, and also to issue a
national identity card in the law. Therefore there is no need for a
separate law since the NRC is already part of the citizenship law.
Further for the implementation of the NRC, Rules were also framed and
adopted in 2003. These Rules specifically mention the process through
which the NRC will be established.
Govt.’s claim No 5: The NRC process is yet to start and there is no notification.
The Truth:
The Rules for the implementation of the NRC which were adopted in 2003
by the Vajpayee Government clearly state that the process will begin
with the house to house enumeration for the creation of a National
Population Register.. The Rules for the NRC in Clause 4 says “a
population register will be prepared by collecting information relating
to all persons who are usually residing within the jurisdiction of the
local registrar. The local register of Indian citizens (as part of the
national register) shall contain details of persons after due
verification made from the population register.” It is clear enough that
the NRC will be finalised after the verification of the population
register.
In 2014 itself the linkage
between NRC and NPR was also made clear by the then Minister of State
for Home Affairs Kiren Rijju who informed Parliament on July 23 of that
year “The Government has now decided to create the National Register of
Indian Citizens based on the information collected under the scheme of
NPR by verifying the citizenship status of all individuals in the
country.”
The NPR process has already
started. The notification for preparing and updating the NPR was issued
by the Registrar General of Citizen Registration on July 31, 2019
through a gazette notification, that the house to house enumeration will
start from April 1 to September 30, 2020.
Therefore it is a lie to say
that the process for NRC has not started. The first stage for the NRC
through the NPR has already been notified.
Govt.’s claim No 6: The Home Minister Amit Shah says the NPR has nothing to do with the NRC. This is in the context
of the Union Cabinet decision to update the NPR with additional
questions. The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash
Javadekar claimed that the National Population Register is only for the
purpose of the Census and has nothing to do with the NRC or citizenship.
So why is the opposition claiming it will affect the citizenship of
Indians?
The Truth:
This is what Mr Shah’s ministry said in its annual report of 2018-2019.
In Ch 15, para 15. 40 it is stated “Government of India has approved a
scheme of creation of National Population Register (NPR) in the country
by collecting specific information of all usual residents. NPR is the
first step towards creation of National Register of Indian Citizen
(NRIC). The demographic data for NPR collected in 2010 has been updated
in 2015. Biometric Enrollment of 33.43 crore persons has also been done
under the scheme..”
So who is being untruthful? The
Ministry of Home Affairs or the Minister of Home Affairs? First the
Government denied links between the CAA and the NRC. When that lie was
exposed the Government has resorted to concealing the truth regarding
the NPR. Since the NPR is being updated along with the Census
enumeration for 2021 the Government is claiming it is part of the
census. It is the Census authorities who undertake both these processes,
but they are two separate things with a different format and
questionnaire.
The NPR is directly linked to
the NRC. From April 1, 2020 onwards, the National Register of Citizens
process will begin with house-to-house enumeration for the National
Population Register.
The Modi Government has added
six new questions that citizens have to answer bringing up the total
questions in the first phase to 21. The original 15 questions related to
demographic data such as name, age, sex, relationship in household,
nationality, educational qualifications, occupation, date of birth,
marital status, residential address, birthplace and mother tongue. The
new 6 questions include name of the father and mother, their places and
dates of birth. and the details of Aadhaar. The Aadhaar information will
then be crosschecked with the Unique Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI) for verification of the individual’s biometrics.
It is a lie to say that the NPR is part of the census. It is nothing of the kind.
Govt.’s claim No 7: No Indian has anything to fear
The Truth:
The poor and the marginalised have everything to fear. Why have the
questions related to parents date and place of birth been added among
the six new questions? How many families have such details and proof?
The exercise for NRC in Assam, which of course was of a different
nature, showed the huge discrepancies and the terrible fear of poor
communities who did not have the required documents. These included
citizens of all religions, castes, linguistic groups. The family members
of a former President of India were declared foreigners. The soldier
who fought to defend India’s borders in the Kargil war was declared a
foreigner. A large number of women who had migrated due to marriage
could not produce their natal family documents and were therefore
rejected as Indian citizens.
After the enumeration, the
information is first crosschecked with the Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIDAI) to verify the individual’s biometrics. As has
been shown the problems of mismatch of AADHAR generated biometrics has
deprived lakhs of poor people of their benefits. If this happens to
citizenship verification it will be a nightmare for millions of poor
people.
After Aadhaar verification, it
is entered into the Local Population Register, the Local Registrar
examines the list, and puts the letter “D” meaning doubtful against any
person or family idemtified as such by the Enumerator. Once this is
done, the person or persons are informed, and then they will have to
make umpteen trips to prove their bonafides. At that stage documents
will have to be produced. Most poor people hardly have their own birth
certificates leave alone the details of previous generations. Moreover,
this is a framework which can lend itself to communal profiling, the
targeting of citizens in line with what the Home Minister had
declared—the purpose of the NRC is to eliminate “infiltrators” as
against the Hindu refugees who will become eligible for citizenship
under the CAA. Those summoned as “doubtful citizens” will have to go
through the tortuous process of submitting proof of their citizenship.
As per the amendments in the
Citizenship Act in 2003, it is not enough to show proof of birth in
India or having lived in India for a certain period. As we saw during
the Assam NRC, no document that proves our identity—birth certificate,
Aadhaar, Voter ID, PAN card, or passport was by itself accepted as a
proof of citizenship. To add further to the problem, the 2003 Amendments
also specify that either both parents have to be Indian citizens for
their children to qualify as citizens, or one parent must be a citizen
and the other not an illegal immigrant. That means that a person to
prove she is a citizen, will have to prove not only that she was born
here, but also the status of her parents citizenship. In case one of
them does not have proof, then the even harder task of proving that
he/she is not an illegal migrant will have to be proved.
Govt.’s claim No 8: The Prime Minister says that Indian Muslims have nothing to fear
The Truth:
Muslims have all the reasons to fear because if a non-Muslim cannot
prove his/her citizenship by producing documents, he/she can still be
considered a legal citizen, whereas the Muslims would always have the
fear of being called illegal migrants. Under the earlier citizenship
regime, “an illegal migrant” was denied access to citizenship even
through the process of naturalisation under Section 6 read with Third
Schedule of the Citizenship, 1954. An illegal migrant was defined under
Section 2(b) as one who was without the necessary passport or travel
documents as specified therein. Hence, whether or not a person was an
illegal migrant was simply an outcome of the existence of requisite
travel documents or the lack thereof. The CAA has shredded this
definition by introducing the parameter of religion. Parliament has
effectively decreed that a Muslim will remain an illegal migrant,
whereas any non-Muslim will not, irrespective of lack of travel
documents.
The non-Muslims excluded from
the definition of illegal migrants do not even require that they be of
Indian origin. This again makes a mockery of the “persons of Indian
origin protection” set out in the objects of the Act. All they have to
be is “from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan”. What does “from” mean?
A citizen? A resident? A passenger in transit? Given no requirement of
being of Indian origin or having to prove any such origins means that an
alien could simply apply on the terms of the CAA, prove entry on/before
December 2014, and be eligible for citizenship. On the other hand, a
Muslim of possibly Indian origin would be denied such a benefit. This
may lead to many an undesirable element slipping through the cracks,
causing even national security to be sacrificed at the altar of
religious jingoism.
Govt.’s claim No 9: The Prime Minister said that there are no detention centres anywhere.
The Truth: Minister of State for Home Affairs answered a question in the Rajya Sabha on December
11, 2019 and said that
instructions have been issued to all states for setting up detention
centres to detain illegal migrants or convicted foreigners pending
deportation. The Central government on 9.1.2019 sent consolidated
instructions for the construction of detention centres to all
state/union administrators.
The Ministry of Home Affairs
sent instructions on 24/29 April 2014 and again on 9-10 September 2014.
On this basis, a model detention centre/holding centre/camp manual was
issued to all states/ union territories in 2018. The Central government
told the Karnataka High Court on November 28, “We have written to all
state governments in 2014 and follow-up letter in 2018 to have detention
centres to house foreign nationals illegally staying in India”.
Many BJP state governments like
Karnataka have already directed construction of detention centres.
Earlier the erstwhile Fadnavis Government in Maharashtra had also
earmarked sites for detention centres. In November 2019, Minister of
State for Home Affairs replied to a question in the Rajya Sabha that 28
people have died in Assam’s detention camps where suspected immigrants
are confined. He disclosed that 988 “foreigners” were lodged in six
detention centres in Assam.
Govt.’s claim No 10:
No force has been used against demonstrators. The police have not fired
on anyone in Delhi or UP and other BJP ruled States where there have
been widespread protests.
The Truth:
The violence has occurred only in BJP ruled States which have come down
with brutal repression against the protests. Massive and peaceful
rallies have been held in all non-BJP ruled States where there has been
no violence.
More than 21 people have been
killed in police firing in UP and the figure is increasing every day.
The claim that police did not fire is ridiculous and absurd. Did the
protesters kill themselves? In many parts of UP the police have
committed atrocities on ordinary citizens including women. There is also
video evidence of UP police destroying private property including
vehicles, motorbikes, shops etc. There is video evidence of police
firing in Delhi and UP. But the Modi Government has taken no action
against the guilty police personnel. The Delhi police went into Jamia
University with arms, brutally beat unarmed students in the library, the
hostel even going to the lavatories and dragging students out.
In AMU the situation was even
worse. Stun grenades, tear gas shells and brutal beating of students
took place inside the campus causing severe injuries to students. Five
people were shot dead by the police during the protests in Assam. In
Karnataka at least two were killed in police firing.
False cases have been foisted on
people in all states governed by the BJP. In many cases, the accused
were not even present in those towns at the time of the protests. The
BJP Government refuses to accept the constitutional right to peaceful
protest. It displays the arrogance of power of a most authoritarian
communal regime.
Govt.’s claim No 11: NPR does not discriminate with anyone.
The Truth:
The guidelines to determine the age of a person in a census included a
list of holidays which strangely does not include any Islamic holidays!
This is one of the examples that exhibits extreme prejudice and malafide
intention of the government right at the outset of NPR process.
BJP/RSS’ claim No. 12:
Muslims have 150 countries to go to while Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs
etc. have only one India to take refuge in (said by Gujarat CM, V.
Rupani)
The Truth:
Millions of Indians (largely Hindus and Sikhs etc.) have migrated, been
welcomed, and granted citizenship in all countries of the world,
including in Islamic/Gulf countries, from where they send back huge sums
of earned money to India, positively affecting Indian economy. In 2002,
during the Vajpayee government, L.M.Singhvi said about Indian diaspora
that “...119 countries where our people are to be found to represent our
‘Karma bhumi’ just as much as India." Just as Indians go everywhere to
do business and to settle, India should also welcome people from all
nations and religious identities to come and settle here.
Govt.’s claim No 13:
Opposition Parties who supported the Hindu migrant communities are now
opposing the amendment for vote bank politics. The Prime Minister in his
speech on Dec 22 said that the Congress and the CPI(M) had demanded a
law for the “minority communities from Bangladesh” but have now done a
U-turn.
The Truth:
It is wrong to conflate concern for the rights of deprived sections to a
toxic policy of exclusion from citizenship rights as is being done by
the Modi Government. It is the left and liberal parties that have been
concerned about the plight of refugees seeking shelter in India. It is
the non-Sangh people who played a glorious role to secure the rights of
more than ten million hapless victims of British driven partition who
crossed the new border. The battle for ensuring proper rehabilitation of
these dispossessed has been an enduring feature of the communist and
Left movement in West Bengal. The RSS remained conspicuously absent
during that difficult phase faced by Bengal refugees. Left parties also
demanded recognition as Scheduled Castes of the Namashudra dalit
communities among refugees from Bangladesh which had been done in West
Bengal but not in many other other States where the refugees had been
settled such as in UP, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. These States run
by the BJP had refused to grant them SC status. We are totally opposed
to any such differentiation in the definition of eligibility for
citizenship on the basis of religion.
Conclusion:
This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue
as sought to be portrayed but one that affects the very Constitution of
India and therefore every citizen of India. The sangh parivar should
remember and learn from the words of Swami Vivekananda in his Chicago
speech of 1893 “I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the
persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the
earth.”
The Constitution of India has
never been accepted by the sangh parivar of which the BJP is a part. In
1950 when Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar presented the Constitution for adoption
by India’s Parliament, the RSS opposed it. They were committed to the
two nation theory propounded by Savarkar and Jinnah. They also demanded
that the basis of the constitution should be Manu Smriti.
It is this ideology and
commitment to establish a theocratic state, in which implementation of
the CAA, the NRC and the NPR is seen by them as the first step to link
citizenship to religion.
The protests all over India
comprising different sections of society show that the people of India
are united in their commitment to defend the constitution against the
assault in the form of the three pronged attack of the BJP-RSS
Government. So far 13 Chief Ministers have declared that they will not
implement the NRC. The Kerala LDF Government has taken the lead in
issuing a notification that implementation of NPR will be stayed in
Kerala. It is essential for the Governments opposing NRC to reject the
Cabinet decision to update and start the process for NPR.
The NPR/NRC process is being
undertaken at a time when the Aadhaar identity card has already covered
most of the population. There is also the Electors Photo Identity Card
issued by the Election Commission of India. So another citizenship
register and identity card are superfluous. Moreover, it will be hugely
expensive. The Assam NRC process has already cost the exchequer Rs. 1220
crore, with a population that is less than 3% of India’s population. On
this basis, the total NRC process will cost more than 50,000 crores
rupees!
India today is in the midst of a
recession the burden of which is being borne by the people of India
while big corporates and the super rich thrive, courtesy the Modi
Government. Our defence of the Constitution is deeply linked to our
struggle for economic and social justice and the attempts of this
Government to divert attention from its utter failure to provide jobs
and a decent living to our country women and men.
We hope this memorandum exposes
at least some of the lies and disinformation being spread by the BJP and
sangh parivar affiliates and that it will strengthen our struggle in
defence of the Constitution and against the CAA/NRC/NPR.
We demand the present government to:
- Consider our above-mentioned doubts/questions and clarify them.
- Repeal the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 or alter it to include refugees of all religious identities coming from anywhere. Also, define what is persecution of minorities.
- Communicate clear and final intentions and policies of the government through the official gazette especially on what is the relationship between NRC-CAA and NPR.
- Give An official commitment that NPR data will not be used for NRC.
- Stop the police attack and brutality on the protesters, arrest officials who indulged in violence, looting and killing of innocent protesters all over India, and punish them according to independent investigation.
- Maintain the secular spirit of Constitution at all costs.
- If the present government cannot listen to the peoples’ demands, continue discriminating against minorities, cannot punish the guilty police personnel in different states, then we, the citizens of India demand that the government step down from its duties immediately.
