Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by the Parliament of India on 11 December 2019. It amended the Citizenship Act of 1955 by providing a path to Indian citizenship for Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi,and Christian religious minorities fleeing persecution from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. Muslims were not given such eligibility. The act was the first time religion had been used as a criterion for citizenship under Indian law.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the Indian government, had promised in previous election manifestos to offer Indian citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from neighboring countries. Under the 2019 amendment, migrants who had entered India by 31 December 2014, and had suffered "religious persecution or fear of religious persecution" in their country of origin were made eligible for citizenship. The amendment also relaxed the residence requirement for naturalization of these migrants from eleven years to five. Immediate beneficiaries of the Bill, according to the Intelligence Bureau of India, will be 31,313 refugees: 25,447 Hindus, 5,807 Sikhs, 55 Christians, 2 Buddhists and 2 Parsis.

Why this bill is opposed? 

Protests have broken out across India, a few of them violent, against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019. The Act seeks to amend the definition of illegal immigrant for Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Buddhist and Christian immigrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who have lived in India without documentation. They will be granted fast track Indian citizenship in six years. So far 12 years of residence has been the standard eligibility requirement for naturalisation.

At the first hearing on petitions challenging the CAA, the Supreme Court declined to stay the contentious law but asked the Centre to file its reply against the petitions that say it violates the Constitution. The petitioners say the Bill discriminates against Muslims and violates the right to equality enshrined in the Constitution.

Basically this bill is opposed because it does not give citizenship to illegal migrants of Muslim community from these 3 countries. Another reason behind its criticism is that it violates the provisions of article 14 of the Indian Constitution.

So these were some provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 which gives Indian citizenship to illegal migrants of 3 countries.

However, some people are arguing that this amendment is a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution as it opposes discrimination with anyone based only on caste, religion, sex, and place, etc. Hopefully, the government will take the right decision after listening to all sections of the country.