The Citizenship (Amendment) bill, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on

11th December 2019, and after receiving the assent from the President of India on
12th December 2019, the bill assumed the status of an act.

As soon as the bill was passed in the Parliament, it brought along with it a situation
of major unrest and protests in the Northern Part of the country and in the North
eastern state of Assam. Though the reasons in both these parts were different, but
what was similar was the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Briefly, the Amendment now grants Citizenship to illegal immigrants who had entered
India before or on the 31st of December 2014 of the following religions, Hindu, Sikh,
Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian, from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

The Criteria set by the government here was that religious minorities who faced
persecution in Islamic countries should be provided shelter, and which is why illegal
immigrants from the 3 Islamic Countries are now provided Indian Citizenship.

In the History of our Country's Law and Statutes, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act,
2019 is the first one which Discriminates on the basis of Religion. “Muslims” are
mentioned nowhere, and they are not considered as minorities by the government in
the current situation as the three countries from where illegal immigrants are being
granted Indian Citizenship are Islamic Countries according to their Constitution, and
the government claims that how can Muslims be minorities in an Islamic Country.

The implementation of the CAA led to various consequences across the whole
Country. Due to the outbreak of the Pandemic Covid-19, the situation in the Country
came under control. But will the Act lead to more complications and violence once we
come out of the Pandemic?

Introduction
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 acted as fuel to the fire in the tensions
between the Hindu and Muslim communities of India. CAA came out to be the first
ever act which discriminated people on the basis of religion, which was not welcomed
warmly by the Opposition Parties, and also by the Muslim population in our country.
It also consisted of people who consider themselves as Secular and believe in
secularism.

The word Secular was added in our Preamble by the 42nd Constitutional
Amendment. This meant that India has no official religion and that it separates the
power of the state from religion. Each and every person of the country has the right
to profess, practice and propagate the religion of their own choice. But the question
now being raised is; that is India truly a secular state?
Intellectuals are also raising their voice as they say that the Act violates the
fundamental right of equality.
Article 14 of the Indian Constitution says that everyone should be treated equally
irrespective of their religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. But the Act here does
not include Muslims and are totally silent about them.

Does the CAA violate Article 14 of the Indian Constitution?

As soon as the bill was introduced in the parliament, the northeastern state of Assam
reacted in a very volatile manner which was considered as Riots by the police and the
government. The Northern part of the country also started with peaceful protests
opposing the bill which eventually became an act. But the question that comes up is,
whether the protests were actually peaceful? Whether the reasons for protest in the
northeastern state and the rest of the country were same?

The Act has been criticized extensively throughout India and also by Foreign Officials.
But everything has 2 sides or stories to it. The government claims that it's not
violating any of the existing laws in the country and that they now plan to implement
NRC (National Register of Citizens) in the whole Country.

NRC would keep a count on the actual citizens of the country, and those not included
in the NRC would be considered as Illegal Immigrants. This declaration by the Home
Minister, regarding NRC, made the Muslim community think that the current
government is trying to do away with the Muslims of India. NRC again was like a fuel
to the ongoing fire.

Understanding the Amendment Act

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was discussed by the Union Cabinet and was
eventually cleared for introduction on 4th December 2019 in the Lower House of the
Parliament, which is the Lok Sabha. After which, on 9th of December the Home
Minister (Amit Shah) introduced the bill in Lok Sabha. The bill got passed in the Lok
Sabha on the 10thof December with 311 votes in favour of the bill and only 80
against it. It was pretty obvious that the bill would pass, as the current government
has a full majority in the lower house. Which is why the protests had already begun
in Assam even before the bill was introduced.

Eventually the bill also passed in the upper house with a majority vote of 125 and
105 against. The bill then got the assent of the President and it assumed the status
of an act. Within a time period of 4 days, the bill was introduced and it became an
Act. Further the Act came into force on 10th of January, 2020 after a notification
which was provided by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The act along with it brought few major changes in the process of providing
citizenship to illegal immigrants.
The various sections that were amended are as follows:
  Section 2
 Insertion of a new section 6B
 Section 7D
 And the Third Schedule

The amendments were as follows:

 The following provision is inserted in Section 2(1)(b):

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 there under, shall not be treated as
illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act;". [i]

 After section 6A of the principle act, the following section is inserted:

i. 6B. (1) The Central Government or an authority specified by it in this

behalf may, subject to such conditions, restrictions and manner as may be
prescribed, on an application made in this behalf, grant a certificate of registration or
certificate of naturalisation to a person referred to in the proviso to clause (b) of sub-
section (1) of section 2.

ii. Subject to fulfilment of the conditions specified in section 5 or the

qualifications for naturalisation under the provisions of the Third Schedule, a person
granted the certificate of registration or certificate of naturalisation under sub-section
(1) shall be deemed to be a citizen of India from the date of his entry into India.

iii. On and from the date of commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment)

Act, 2019, any proceeding pending against a person under this section in respect of
illegal migration or citizenship shall stand abated on conferment of citizenship to
him:
Provided that such person shall not be disqualified for making application for
citizenship under this section on the ground that the proceeding is pending against
him and the Central Government or authority specified by it in this behalf shall not
reject his application on that ground if he is otherwise found qualified for grant of
citizenship under this section:

Provided further that the person who makes the application for citizenship under this
section shall not be deprived of his rights and privileges to which he was entitled on
the date of receipt of his application on the ground of making such application.
iv. Nothing in this section shall apply to tribal area of Assam, Meghalaya,
Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the
area covered under "The Inner Line" notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier
Regulation, 1873.'.[ii]

 After section 7D(i)(d), the following has been inserted:

(da) the Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder has violated any of the provisions of
this Act or provisions of any other law for time being in force as may be specified by
the Central Government in the notification published in the Official Gazette; or";

(ii) After clause (f), the following proviso has been inserted:-

"Provided that no order under this section shall be passed unless the Overseas
Citizen of India Cardholder has been given a reasonable opportunity of being
heard.”[iii]

 In the Third Schedule of the principal Act, in clause (d), the following
proviso has been inserted:
'Provided that for the person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or
Christian community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, the aggregate period of
Residence or service of Government in India as required under this clause shall be
Read as "not less than five years" in place of "not less than eleven years".'.[iv]

So basically the amendment act says that people belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist,
Jain, Parsi orChristian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who
have entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 will no longer be
considered as illegal immigrants. All such people would be granted a certificate of
naturalisation or would be granted Indian Citizenship. Further to make it even easier
to provide these people citizenship, the amendment act now requires a minimum of 5
years of residence or service of government in India by such immigrants, which was
11 years earlier.

The act seeks to provide shelter to people who are facing religious persecution in
Islamic countries which are adjoining to the Indian boarders, which is why the act
only talks about Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. But is it really true that
Muslims do not face persecutions in an Islamic country?

Why Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh

The Amendment that has been made only benefits the non-Muslims of these 3
particular Countries and is silent about the others. What actually makes the
government to differentiate and to not include the other countries? Adjoining to the
Indian boarders are various other countries like, Bhutan, Nepal, China, and Sri
Lanka. But the amendment mentions about none of these countries.
The government believes that these 3 countries, particularly, are Islamic Countries
and are not secular. These countries have an official Religion of their own which is
Islam. So it's very likely that the non-Muslim population which is living there faces a
lot of religious persecution and might also face discrimination. The government also
believes that there is no other country that has an official religion of its own, be it
Christianity, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism or any religion for that matter.

India being a secular country respects all religion, and that is why the government is
welcoming the immigrants from these Islamic countries to India. But is the act really
a secular one? Because the Muslims are not included in it! The government here
argues that these three countries being Islamic Countries, it is very unlikely that the
Muslim population over there would have to face religious persecutions. This is why
Muslims aren't mentioned in the act.

So apparently the main motive of the government is to protect the minorities of

various other religions who were stuck in the Islamic state and are now living in
India.

What made the people to protest against the Amendment

Part III of the Indian Constitution deals with the Fundamental Rights. These
fundamental rights are the supreme rights that the people in India enjoy. If any of
the fundamental right is violated, then that particular person has absolute right to
move directly to the Supreme Court of India or the High court. With the help of article
32 the person can seek remedy in the Supreme Court and with the help of article 226
the High court can be approached.

One of the most important fundamental rights provided by the Constitution is the
Right to Equality. Article 14 of the Indian Constitution states that -“The State shall
not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws
within the territory of India.”[v]

The article states “no person.” This means that it's not necessary that a person
should be an Indian citizen to enjoy the fundamental right of equality in India.
Majority of the people started opposing the bill which now has become an Act.
Questions were raised that why aren't Muslim immigrants being given citizenship by
the amendment. There are various Muslims also who face religious persecutions, like
the Ahmedia Muslim sect, Shias, Rohingya Muslims etc. Why are these Muslim
minorities being neglected by the government, and why is the government
discriminating people and violating the fundamental right of equality. The
government had no reply to this.
Another thing which led to large scale protests in the country was the statement
given by the Home Minister Amit Shah. He stated that:
“First we will pass the Citizenship Amendment bill and ensure that all the refugees
from the neighbouring nations get the Indian citizenship. After that NRC will be made
and we will detect and deport every infiltrator from our motherland.” This made the
Muslim community and various other people in India infuriated.

The Muslim community in India started to think that this move by the centre is to
remove all the Muslims in India and make India a Hindu Rashtra. What led the
Muslims in India to think in such a way? After CAA came into force, all religious
minorities from the three countries get Indian Citizenship, except the Muslims. So
now if NRC is implemented all over India, every citizen would have to prove their
identity and also they would have to prove that they are legal citizens of India.

Those who fail to prove their identity would be considered as illegal immigrants. Now
those belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community would
get back their citizenship through CAA if they turn out to be illegal immigrants by not
proving their citizenship. But the Muslims in India who are not able to prove their
identity and are considered as illegal immigrants would stay as illegal immigrants
and would never get back their Indian citizenship and would end up being homeless
and stateless.

This majorly led to large scale protests by the Muslim community in India and they
were supported by other people of the country too. While various cities in the country
were protesting, New Delhi's Shaheen Bagh had become the main hub for the
protesters. Various educational institutions were also protesting, like Jamia Milia
Islamia, Aligarh Muslim University etc.

Protests in the North-Eastern State of Assam

While the whole country was protesting for equality and Muslim rights, Assam had a
whole different reason to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which is
now an Act. Assam began its protest as soon as the bill was discussed by the union
cabinet and was not even introduced in the parliament.

To know the main reason behind the protests in Assam, we have to know about the
Political history related to the State and the north-eastern region.

During the partition of India, the north-eastern part of India was under great turmoil.
The region of north east India was going to be put under the region of East Pakistan.
But the north eastern states wanted to be in the Indian Territory. Lokpriya Gopinath
Bordoloi an Indian independence activist then approached the national leaders and
convinced them that the north-eastern region wants to and deserves to stay within
the Indian boarders. Eventually this was agreed and the northeast remained as a
part of India.

While the partition was taking place, a lot of people started to migrate into the north
east region and started living there. Eventually they were considered as legal citizen
of the country. Majority of these migrants were Bengali speaking Hindus and Bengali
Muslims. This was the first wave when the north eastern land was occupied by
people other than those who were originally north eastern.

The second wave came after the Bangladeshi liberation war in 1971. When East
Pakistan got its independence and Bangladesh was formed, many people again
started to migrate due to the war. These migrants largely occupied the north-eastern
region and west Bengal as these two regions were along with the Bangladeshi
boarder.

This sudden and on-going influx from Bangladesh started to impact the socio-
economic and the ethnic diversity of the north eastern region. It led to insecurity in
the original inhabitants and they felt that their rights as the indigenous population
had been encroached upon. This led to the Assam Movement.

The Assam movement was being headed by the All Assam Students Union. Their
main call was to get the region rid of the infiltrators. They had no religious biases;
they just wanted the Bangladeshis who had entered the state illegally to be removed
from their land.

From 1979 to 1985 Assam had a 6 year long agitation, which was primarily led by
the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) and All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad
(AAGSP), to fight against the immigrants.

By the 2000s the Indian National Congress had gained power in Assam. But the
government didn't do much to protect the land from Bangladeshi immigrants. More
over the immigrations increased and the INC started to use these immigrants as their
vote banks.

People started losing hope in INC which was led by Tarun Gogoi. The people of Assam
had started to find an alternative, and in 2016 they found hope in the BJP
government. BJP had now won 60 seats in Assam which is a huge number compared
to the previous election in which they got only 5 seats.

The indigenous population of Assam now saw a hope of ray that the infiltrators would
be removed. They were expecting implementation of the policy to detect, delete and
deport the illegal migrants from Bangladesh. This is why the people of Assam also
supported the NRC (National Register of Citizens) process, as they thought the illegal
immigrants would now be removed.
But ultimately, in 2019, when the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was introduced, the
people of Assam felt extremely betrayed by the BJP government.

This was taken as an insult by the North-Eastern people as this can result in the
failure of all central theme of the Assam Movement. The Assamese had nothing to do
with the religion, if Muslims are included or not. They just wanted that no illegal
immigrant from Bangladesh should enter their land.

They feel that if immigrants keep coming in from Bangladesh, and the government
keeps providing them citizenship, then one day the original Assamese people in
Assam will become a minority group and the state would be full of Bengali speaking
Hindus.

The protest against the CAB/A in the Northeast was not against any political
fundamentalism, neither it was against or for any language speakers or religion in
particular. It was for the protection of the rights of the people of the state. It is for the
promise that was made to the people of the region by the central government. It is for
the democratic right of the people to have a distinct culture and tradition of their
own.

Relationship Between CAA and NRC

The term NRC (National Register of Citizens) was initially coined in the year 1951 by
the government. At that time, the Indian national congress was in power. In 1951 the
government had implemented the NRC in Assam on the basis of the 1951 Census.
But the register was never maintained thereafter.

The National Register of Citizens is a document which contains the legal citizens of
the country. Those who are not included in the NRC are considered as illegal
immigrants. Such illegal immigrants would be kept in detention centers and would
eventually be deported from the country.

After the failed attempt in 1951, finally the NRC got updated for Assam, and was
published on 31 August 2019. Around 1.9 million people were considered as illegal
immigrants in Assam through this NRC.

Further the Bhartiya Janta Party had promised to implement the NRC for all of India
in its election manifesto in the 2019 Indian general election. After coming into power,
the Home Minister, Amit Shah, on 19th of November 2019, declared in the Rajya
Sabha that NRC would be implemented throughout the country. This did not grab
the attention of the people until the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was
introduced in the Lok Sabha.

As soon as the bill was introduced, the people of India started to criticize this step
that was taken by the government.
 Firstly, the people in Assam felt betrayed as on one hand the government had
implemented the NRC in Assam to remove illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, but
on the other hand the government brought the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which
would now provide immigrants with Indian Citizenship from Bangladesh, Pakistan
and Afghanistan.
 Secondly, the Muslim community in India started to feel that the government
wants to remove all the Muslims from the country by first implementing the
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and then the NRC. Because Muslims who won't be able
to prove their identity through NRC, would become illegal immigrants under the CAA.

This shows how the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens
are related. As the prior one grants citizenship to religious minorities (except
Muslims) from Islamic countries, the latter one keeps a track of the legal citizens and
eventually deports the ones who are not a part of the register and are hence
considered as illegal immigrants. The only community that does not benefit from this
combination is the Muslims. As once they are considered as illegal immigrants, they'll
be left stateless and there's no way for them to get back their Indian citizenship.

Understanding the Series of Events

Since the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was discussed upon, things in the
country started to become ugly.
Here is a brief chronology of the series of events related to the Act.

 4th December - The Union Cabinet had approved the bill to be introduced in
the parliament.
 9th December - The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha.
 10th December - The bill passed in the Lok Sabha with a majority vote of 311
and only 80 in against.
 11th December - The bill was now presented in the Rajya Sabha and it got
passed the same day with 125 votes in favour of the bill.
 12th December - On this date the bill got the assent of the President and had
now become and Act.

Large scale protests were being carried out in the country against the CAA.

 13th December - Various countries like UK, USA, France, Canada etc had
issued travel warning to their citizens who were travelling to the north-east India.
Because the protest were turning out to be violent over there.

 14th December - People in New Delhi came out to protest against the Act. The
protest was being held in Jantar Mantar.
 15th December - Protests in the area of Shaheen Bagh in New Delhi had begun.
Things had turned out to become very violent and the protests were no more
peaceful. DTC buses in Delhi were burnt up. Students of Jamia and Aligarh Muslim
University came out to protest. The police authorities had entered the educational
institution without any warrant and they stared to detain the students. Many
students were also injured.

 18th December - The Supreme Court held a hearing for the 60 petitions that
were brought in front challenging the Act. After the first hearing, the Supreme Court
had declined the stay against the Act and a new date of hearing was given which was
22nd of January.

 19th December - The protests started to spread throughout the country. As

things were now out of control for the government and the police authorities, the
government started to suspend the internet in various regions where the protests
were taking place.

 10th January - The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 came into force.

 14th January - The Kerala Government moved to the Supreme Court to

challenge the CAA under Article 131. Kerala became the first government to do so. It
stated that the Act violates Article 14, Article 21 and Article 25 of the Indian
constitution, which guarantees basic principles such as equality before the law,
protection of life and personal liberty and freedom of conscience and free profession,
practice, and propagation of religion.

 22nd January - The petitions were again heard in the Supreme Court by a
bench of 3 Judges which was headed by Justice Bobde. Notice was given to the
government to reply in reference to the petitions filed within a time period of 1
month. Further the court held that the issue in the northeast is different from the
rest and a different hearing would be set up for that.

While all of this was going on, many students, protesters and also police officers lost
their lives because of the protests taking place in the country.
The Act and the government, both were being condemned by various other countries
and also by the UN for violation of human rights.

 Ultimately on 24th March 2020, the two month long protest in Shaheen Bagh,
New Delhi, came to an end due to the outbreak of the Pandemic, Corona Virus.

But people in the country are still not in support of the Act, and it is very likely that
as soon as the Pandemic gets over, people will come out again and will protest
against the Act.

Understanding of the topic and Suggestions

 The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill became an Act on 12th of December 2019.
 The act discriminated on the basis of religion.
 People believed that the Act violates the Fundamental Rights of Equality, Life
and Religion. Articles 14, 21 and 25 respectively. But these rights can be restricted
by reasonable restrictions under the provisions of law. But was excluding Muslims
within the scope?
 Another right that the people in our country have is the right to protest
peacefully. But does this mean that your right to protest peacefully can hamper the
right to life and freedom of others? Every citizen has equal rights and each person
has the right to enjoy it. But not at the cost of hammering others fundamental or
even constitutional rights.
 The protesters of the Act have a fight against the government and not against
other citizens of the country. Then why do other people have to suffer because of the
protesters.
 The protesters have been blocking roads, burning down buses etc, due to which
other citizens have to face a lot of difficulties. In Delhi alone, N numbers of roads
were closed or were diverted because of the protesters, which caused a lot of
inconvenience.
 Peaceful protests can easily be taken place in various places were other citizens
won't be affected. But what is the point to protest for your rights while hampering the
rights of the other people.
 The Protest had initially started because of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
But eventually it turned out that now people are protesting against the NRC. But
where is NRC? The home Minister claimed that the NRC would be implemented, but
after that the Prime Minister denied it. Then why are people protesting against
something that actually does not exist.
 NRC in the first place should not be implemented throughout the country. It
can be implemented in the states which are on the boarders of the country to protect
the indigenous people of that state.
 Rather than violating the laws, people must have faith in the judiciary and
must proceed with things in a lawful manner.

Conclusion
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 came out to be a very controversial one. On
one hand where it is benefiting the religious minorities from the 3 Islamic countries,
on the other it is violating the right to equality and is discriminating people on the
basis of their religion.

The step taken by the government is no doubt a good one, but the implementation is
questionable. As immigrants, irrespective of their religion, who come from
Bangladesh into Assam will not only endanger the indigenous population of Assam
and other north eastern states, but it will also be against the sixth schedule of the
Indian Constitution and also against the Assam Accord. However the sixth schedule
only protects some districts of the North east, but it is necessary to protect all the
indigenous people in the north eastern state and not just a few.

NRC is a bigger threat for the peace of the country compared to the CAA, because
protests in the rest of the country, except the north east, were mainly related to the
implementation of NRC in the whole country. The combination of both CAA and NRC
would eventually leave the Muslim population of India stateless.

Things might turn out to become even uglier after the Pandemic ends. The
government must now try to work out strategies to handle further protests that might
take place in the country. The strategies must be within the scope of law and should
not violate human rights.

End-Notes:

1. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019

2. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
3. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
4. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019
5. Article 14: The Constitution of India