India is grappling with a complex set of economic, environmental and social disenfranchisement issues of the poor and the vulnerable. We are witnessing unprecedented protests from people from diverse walks against the recently amended Citizenship Act 2019 (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR), and the National Register for Indian Citizens (NRC).
Before we begin to explore other facets of this Act, we need to understand that the NPR and NRC are part of the same Citizenship Act. Accordingly, there is an atmosphere of fear that a combined implementation of this amended Act along with the NPR and NRC will adversely affect the poor, marginalized, migrants, women, trans-gender, and tribal people. The very first issue will be that they will be deemed ‘doubtful voters’, and would lose their voting rights. In short, they will be completely stateless and voiceless.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (amendments made in 1986, 2003, 2019) attacks the core principle of our constitution by singling out Muslims. The current amendment welcomes six persecuted religious communities, Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Paris and Christians, from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh – but leaves out Muslims. This is despite the fact that the framers of our Constitution recognized the presence of diverse communities, based on religion, caste, languages and regions, that ultimately led to the adoption of secularism as the founding principle of India.
