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 from the neighboring
Muslim majority countries of
Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Afghanistan.[2] The act was the first
time religion had been used as a
criterion for citizenship under Indian
law.[3]
 Citizenship (Amendment) Act,
2019

Parliament of India

Long title
An Act further to amend the
Citizenship Act, 1955.

Citation Act No. 47 of 2019

Enacted by Lok Sabha

Passed 10 December 2019

Enacted by Rajya Sabha

Passed 11 December 2019
Assented to 12 December 2019

Signed 12 December 2019

Signed by Ram Nath Kovind

President of India

Effective Not yet; to be notified

by the government on
a date chosen by it.[1]

Legislative history

Bill introduced in the Citizenship

Lok Sabha (Amendment) Bill,
2019

Bill citation Bill No. 370 of 2019

Bill published on 9 December 2019

Introduced by Amit Shah

Minister of Home Affairs
First reading 9 December 2019

Second reading 10 December 2019

Third reading 11 December 2019

Amends

Citizenship Act, 1955

Status: Not yet in force

The religious persecution of

minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs
and Christians has been a serious
and widespread problem in
Pakistan.[4][5][6] The Hindu
nationalist 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,[7][8] such as
Hindu refugees.[9][10] Under the 2019
amendment, migrants who 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 by the new law.[2] The
amendment also relaxed the
residence requirement for
naturalization of these migrants
from 11 years to 5 years.[11]
According to the Indian Intelligence
Bureau, the act will add about
31,300 new citizens to India's 1.3
billion population. About 25,400
Hindus, 5,800 Sikhs along with less
than 100 Christians and other
religious minorities are expected to
be immediately eligible for
citizenship under the amended
Citizenship Act.[12][13]

The amendment has been widely

criticised as discriminating on the
basis of religion. The Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights called it
"fundamentally discriminatory",
adding that while India's "goal of
protecting persecuted groups is
welcome", this should be done
through a non-discriminatory
"robust national asylum
system".[14][15][16] Critics express
concerns that the bill would be
used, along with the National
Register of Citizens, to render 1.9
million Muslim immigrants
stateless. Commentators also
question the exclusion of
persecuted religious minorities from
other regions such as Tibet, Sri
Lanka and Myanmar.[17][18] The
Indian government says that
Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Bangladesh are "Muslim-majority
countries" where Islam has been
declared as the official state religion
through constitutional amendments
in recent decades, and therefore
Muslims in these Islamic countries
are "unlikely to face religious
persecution" and cannot be "treated
as persecuted minorities".[19][20][8]

The passage of the legislation

caused large scale protests in
India.[21] Assam and other
northeastern states have seen
violent demonstrations against the
bill over fears of non-Muslim illegal
immigrants being naturalized under
these provisions, thus impacting the
local culture and society.[22][23][24][25]
Universities across the country saw
huge protests by students and the
police were subsequently accused
of resorting to brutal
suppression.[26] As of 12 December,
the protests had resulted in more
than a thousand arrests and six
deaths; civil liberties and
communication facilities were
frequently suspended by the police
in response.[27]
Background
The Indian Constitution was
implemented in 1950, which is a
secular constitution that guarantees
citizenship to all of the country's
residents.[28] The Indian government
passed the Citizenship Act in 1955,
seven years after India became an
independent country. This act, and
its subsequent amendments,
prohibited illegal migrants from
obtaining Indian citizenship. The act
defined illegal migrants as citizens
of other countries who entered India
without valid travel documents, or
who remained in the country beyond
the period permitted by their travel
documents. It also allowed for these
individuals to be deported or
jailed.[29] According to UNHCR, there
are more than 200,000 refugees
residing in India.[30][31][a] India is not
a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee
Convention and does not have a
national policy on refugees. All
refugees are classed as "illegal
migrants". While India has been
willing to host refugees, its
traditional position formulated by
Jawaharlal Nehru is that such
refugees must return to their home
countries after the situation returns
to normal.[30][33]

The 2014 Indian general elections

were won by the Hindu nationalist
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It
promised in its election manifesto
to provide a natural home for
persecuted religious minorities from
neighboring countries.[7] This led to
a debate in media of India being the
"natural home" for "Hindu refugees"
according to the BJP.[9] In 2015, the
government passed orders
legalising such refugees
irrespective of their travel
documents and granting them long-
term visas.[34] They also announced
that Bangladeshi and Pakistani
nationals belonging to "minority
communities" would be exempted
from the requirements of the
Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920
and the Foreigners Act, 1946.[35] The
minority communities were listed as
Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,
Parsis and Christians, and they were
required to have been "compelled to
seek shelter in India due to religious
persecution or fear of religious
persecution". Those that arrived in
India before 31 December 2014
were granted exemption from the
requirements,[36] and subsequently
issued long-term visas.[34]

The BJP government introduced a

bill to amend the citizenship law in
2016, which would have made Non -
Muslim migrants from Pakistan,
Afghanistan, and Bangladesh
eligible for Indian citizenship.[37][38]
Although this bill was passed by the
Lok Sabha, or lower house of Indian
parliament, it stalled in the Rajya
Sabha, following widespread
political opposition and protests in
northeast India. Opponents of the
bill raised concerns that the
demography of the region would
change with an influx of migrants
from Bangladesh.[38][39][40][41]

The BJP reiterated its commitment

to amend the citizenship act in its
2019 election campaign. Among its
other priorities was its belief that
India had a large number of illegal
Muslim immigrants. The BJP
government completed an effort to
update the National Register of
Citizens (NRC) in the state of
Assam.[10][42][43] The stated aim of
this exercise was to identify illegal
migrants from neighboring
Bangladesh, a Muslim majority
country.[42] Commentators said it
was an effort to target Muslim
migrants.[42] The updated register
was made public in August 2019;
approximately 1.9 million residents
were not on the list, and were in
danger of losing their
citizenship.[10][42][43] A majority of
those affected were Bengali Hindus,
who constitute a major voter base
for the BJP. Shortly before the
publication of the register, the BJP
withdrew its support for the entire
exercise.[44]
Religious persecution

According to Farahnaz Ispahani – a

Pakistani American and a Public
Policy Scholar at the Wilson Center,
militancy and sectarianism has
been rising in Pakistan since the
1990s, and the religious minorities
have "borne the brunt of the
Islamist's ferocity" suffering "greater
persecution than in any earlier
decade". This has led to attacks and
forced conversion of Christians and
Hindus, as well as attacks on Sufis
and Ahmadis.[4][5][6]
Pakistan has been accused by
London-based Minority Rights
Group and Islamabad-based
International and Sustainable
Development Policy Institute of
"high levels of religious
discrimination", and intensified
"violence and discrimination against
religious minorities such as
Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus".
According to these human rights
group, the religious minorities in
Pakistan face "legal and social
discrimination in almost every
aspect of their lives, including
political participation, marriage and
freedom of belief".[45] Similarly, the
Brussels-based Unrepresented
Nations and Peoples Organization
stated in 2019, that "in recent years,
the systematic and ongoing
violations of freedom of religion in
Pakistan has become an alarming
matter. Religious minorities,
including Hindus, Christians, Sikhs,
Ahmadis and Shia Muslims, have
perpetually been subjected to
attacks and discrimination by
extremist groups and the society at
large."[46]
The United States Commission on
International Religious Freedoms in
recent years has stated that
"extremist groups and societal
actors [have] continued to
discriminate against and attack
religious minorities" in Pakistan. It
adds, "extremist religious parties" in
Pakistan have entered into "the
political arena" and thus has "led to
increased threats and hate speech
against religious
minorities".[47][48][49] The European
Parliament, similarly has expressed
its concerns to Pakistan of systemic
persecution of minorities citing
examples of attack on Christian
churches and institutions and Hindu
temples, hundreds of honor killings,
its blasphemy laws that "make it
dangerous for religious minorities to
express themselves freely or
engage openly in religious
activities".[50] According to various
resolutions adopted in the EU
parliament, "for years Pakistan's
blasphemy laws have raised global
concern because accusations are
often motivated by score-settling,
economic gain or religious
intolerance, and foster a culture of
vigilantism giving mobs a platform
for harassment and attacks" against
its religious minorities. Another
motion stated that Islamist groups
active in Pakistan have taken "its toll
on the Pakistani people, in
particular, on religious minorities,
women and children" and dozens of
violent attacks have been targeted
against Christians and other
religious minorities.[51][52]

According to a US State Department

2018 report, hundreds of cases
such as of "killings, attempted
killings, death threats, assaults,
rapes, kidnappings, and attacks on
homes, businesses, and places of
worship" on religious minorities
were reported in 2017 in
Bangladesh.[53]

In September 2019, Baldev Singh –

a Sikh and a former member of
Pakistan's legislative assembly
belonging to Imran Khan's Pakistan
Tehreek-i-Insaf party – sought
asylum in India, along with his
family. He stated that the minorities
in Pakistan were being persecuted,
face "atrocities" and he fears for his
family's safety.[54] Commentators
state that the Citizenship Act is
necessary to provide "rights and
reliefs" to human beings who have
suffered sustained persecution
because of their religious beliefs
and minority status, and that it is
consistent with India's long-held
humanitarian values.[55][56]

Legislative history
The Bill was introduced in Lok
Sabha on 19 July 2016 as the
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
It was referred to the Joint
Parliamentary Committee on 12
August 2016. The Committee
submitted its report on 7 January
2019 to Parliament. The Bill was
taken into consideration and passed
by Lok Sabha on 8 January 2019. It
was pending for consideration and
passing by the Rajya Sabha.
Consequent to dissolution of 16th
Lok Sabha, this Bill has lapsed.[57]

Subsequently after the formation of

17th Lok Sabha, the Union Cabinet
cleared the Citizenship
(Amendment) Bill, 2019, on 4
December 2019 for introduction in
the parliament.[38][58] The Bill was
introduced in 17th Lok Sabha by the
Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah
on 9 December 2019 and was
passed on 10 December 2019,[59]
with 311 MPs voting in favour and
80 against the Bill.[60][61][62]

The bill was subsequently passed

by the Rajya Sabha on 11 December
2019 with 125 votes in favour and
105 votes against it.[63][64] Those
voted in favour included BJP allies
such as Janata Dal (United),
AIADMK, Biju Janata Dal, TDP and
YSR-Congress.[63][64]
After receiving assent from the
President of India on 12 December
2019, the bill assumed the status of
an act.[65] The act will come into
force on a date chosen by the
Government of India, and will be
notified as such.[1]

The first hearing by the Supreme

Court of India on 60 petitions
challenging the Act was on 18
December 2019. During the first
hearing, the court declined to stay
implementation of the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, 2019. The court
has set 22 January 2020 as the next
date of hearing.[66]

The Amendments
The Citizenship (Amendment) Act of
2019 amended the Citizenship Act,
1955, by inserting the following
provisos in section 2, sub-section
(1), after clause (b):[1]

Provided that persons

belonging to minority
communities, namely, Hindus,
Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis
and Christians from
Afghanistan, Bangladesh and
Pakistan, who have 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
order made thereunder, shall
not be treated as illegal
migrants for the purposes of
that Act;[1]
A new section, 6B, was inserted,
providing further that:

on and from the date of

commencement of the [Act],
any person referred to in the
first proviso shall be eligible to
apply for naturalisation and
any proceeding pending
against such person in respect
of illegal migration or
citizenship shall stand abated
on conferment of citizenship to
him.[1]
The "exempted" classes of persons
were previously defined in the
Foreigners (Amendment) Order,
2015, (issued under the Foreigners
Act, 1946):[36]

3A. Exemption of certain

class of foreigners. – (1)
Persons belonging to minority
communities in Bangladesh
and Pakistan, namely, Hindus,
Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis
and Christians who were
compelled to seek shelter in
India due to religious
persecution or fear of religious
persecution and entered into
India on or before the 31st
December, 2014

(a) without valid documents

including passport or other
travel documents and who
have been exempted under
rule 4 from the provisions of
rule 3 of the Passport (Entry
into India) Rules, 1950 [...]; or
(b) with valid documents
including passport or other
travel document and the
 validity of any of such
documents has expired,

are hereby granted exemption

from the application of
provisions of the Foreigners
Act, 1946, and the orders made
thereunder in respect of their
stay in India without such
documents or after the expiry
of those documents, as the case
may be [...].[36]

The Rules were further amended in

2016 by adding Afghanistan to the
list of countries.[67]

Analysis
The Bill amends the Citizenship Act
of 1955 to give eligibility for Indian
citizenship to illegal migrants who
are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains,
Parsis and Christians from
Afghanistan, Bangladesh and
Pakistan, and who entered India on
or before 31 December 2014. The
bill does not include Muslims.[68][69]
Immediate beneficiaries of the Bill,
according to Intelligence Bureau
records, will be just over 30,000
people.[70] India's previous
citizenship law, Citizenship Act
1955, did not consider religious
affiliation to be a criterion for
eligibility.[71]

Under the Act, one of the

requirements for citizenship by
naturalisation is that the applicant
must have resided in India during
the last 12 months, and for 11 of the
previous 14 years. The Bill relaxes
this 11-year requirement to five
years for persons belonging to the
same six religions and three
countries. The bill exempts the tribal
areas of Assam, Meghalaya, and
Tripura from its applicability. It also
exempts the areas regulated
through the Inner Line Permit, which
include Arunachal Pradesh,
Mizoram and Nagaland.[72][73][74]
The inclusion of Manipur in Inner
Line Permit was also announced on
9 December 2019.[40]

The Bill includes new provisions for

cancellation of the registration of
Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)
such as registration through fraud,
in case of OCI holder sentenced to
imprisonment for two or more years
within five years of registration and
in necessity in the interest of
sovereignty and security of India. It
also includes a provision on
violation of any law notified by the
central government. It also adds the
opportunity for the OCI holder to be
heard before the cancellation.[38]

Exclusion of Muslims

Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh

and Afghanistan are not offered
citizenship under the new
Act.[75][76][77] Critics have questioned
the exclusion. The Amendment
limits itself to the Muslim-majority
neighbours of India and, secondly,
takes no cognizance of the
persecuted Muslims of those
countries, such as Ahmadiyyas in
Pakistan and the Hazaras in
Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are
said to be refugees belonging to
these groups in India, who have not
been offered any relief.[30][32]

According to the Indian government,

Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Bangladesh are Muslim-majority
countries. They have modified their
Constitutions in recent decades to
declare Islam as their official state
religion, and therefore Muslims in
these Islamic countries are "unlikely
to face religious persecution". The
government states that Muslims
cannot be "treated as persecuted
minorities" in these Muslim-majority
countries.[19][20][8]

Exclusion of non-Muslim
countries

The Act does not include non-

Muslim neighbouring countries of
India. For example, the Act is silent
about Hindu refugees from Sri
Lanka. Political parties such as
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam with
support of Biju Janata Dal and Shiv
Sena have sought automatic
citizenship rights for Tamil Hindus
from Sri Lanka.[78] They were
allowed to legally settle in the Indian
state of Tamil Nadu in 1980s and
1990s due to systemic violence
from Sinhalese of Sri Lanka. The Act
does not include the 29,500 "hill
country Tamils" (Malaiha), many of
whom live in refugee camps in Tamil
Nadu, are married to Indian citizens
but not recognized as Indian
citizens. A June 2019 High Court
ruling, however, states that they
qualify for citizenship under existing
laws of India. Further, according to
Suryanarayan, the situation with
Tamil Hindu refugees from Sri Lanka
is complicated because in certain
cases they do not seek Indian
citizenship and want to return to Sri
Lanka.[79]

The Act does not provide relief to

Tibetan Buddhist refugees from
China.[17] They came to India in the
1950s and 1960s. Their status has
been of refugees over the decades,
though one source states that Dalai
Lama was granted political asylum
in 1959. According to a 1992
UNHCR report, the then Indian
government stated that they remain
refugees and do not have the right
to acquire Indian nationality.[80]

Furthermore, the act excludes both

Hindu and Buddhist refugees from
Nepal and Bhutan. There are reports
that Bhutan discriminates against
Hindus living in the country through
a Buddhist-only society[81], and there
are currently thousands of Buddhist
and Hindu refugees from Bhutan
living in camps in Nepal who are
unable to gain citizenship to neither
Bhutan, Nepal or India, and are
effectively stateless.[82]

Aftermath

Locals protest against the CAB in the capitol

on 14 December 2019
 

Locals and Jamia Millia Islamia students

protest against CAA/NRC in New Delhi on 15
December 2019

After the bill was cleared on 4

December 2019, violent protests
erupted in Assam, especially in
Guwahati, and other areas in the
state.[83] In Dispur, several
thousands of protesters broke down
police barricades to protest in front
of the Assam Legislative Assembly
building.[84][85] Demonstrations were
held in Agartala.[86] Six people have
died and fifty people have been
injured in the protests against the
Act.[87][88]

Internet access was restricted in

Assam state. Curfew was declared
in Assam and Tripura due to the
protests. The royal family of Tripura
filed a petition in the Supreme Court
of India against the bill.[89] The army
was called in to as protestors defied
those curfews. Railway services
were suspended and some airlines
started offering rescheduling or
cancellation fee waivers in those
areas.[90] Officials reported that at
least two people died after clashes
with police in Guwahati, Assam.[91]

No play was possible on the fourth

day of the cricket match between
Assam and Services in the 2019–20
Ranji Trophy because of the
protests.[92] The India-Japan
summit in Guwahati, which was
supposed to be attended by Shinzō
Abe was also cancelled.[93][94]

Protests against the bill were held in

well as several metropolitan cities
across India, including Kolkata,[95]
Delhi,[96][97] Mumbai,[63]
Bengaluru,[98] Hyderabad,[99] and
Jaipur.[96] Smaller rallies were also
held in the southern states of Kerala
and Karnataka.[95]

The UK, USA, France, Israel and

Canada issued travel warnings for
people visiting India's north-east
region, telling their citizens to
"exercise caution". Chief Ministers
of Indian states of West Bengal,
Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and
Chhattisgarh said they will not
implement the law.[95][100][101]
On 15 December, police forcefully
entered the campus of Jamia Millia
Islamia university, where protests
were being held, and detained the
students. Police used batons and
tear gas on the students. More than
a hundred students were injured and
an equal number were detained. The
police action was widely criticized,
and resulted in protests across the
country.[102][103][104]

On 16 December, after the protests

entered the fifth day, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi appealed for calm in
a series of tweets saying "No Indian
has anything to worry regarding this
act. This act is only for those who
have faced years of persecution
outside and have no other place to
go except India".[88][105]

On 19 December, police banned

protests in several parts of India
with the imposition of section 144
which prohibits the gathering of
more than 4 individuals in a public
space as being unlawful, namely,
parts of the capital Delhi, Uttar
Pradesh, and Karnataka, including
Bangalore. Police in Chennai denied
permission for marches, rallies or
any other demonstration.[106][107]
Internet services were shutdown in
several parts of Delhi. As a result of
defining the ban, thousands of
protesters were detained, primarily
in Delhi, including several opposition
leaders and activists such as
Ramachandra Guha, Sitaram
Yechury, Yogendra Yadav, Umar
Khalid, Sandeep Dikshit, Tehseen
Poonawalla and D Raja.[108][109][110]

Reactions

Domestic
The foreign intelligence agency of
India R&AW had expressed concern
while deposing in front of the joint
parliamentary committee, and had
stated that the bill could be used by
agents of the foreign intelligence
agencies to infiltrate legally into
India.[111] Harish Salve, former
Solicitor General of India, said that
the bill does not violate Article 14,
Article 25 and Article 21 of the
Constitution of India.[112] He points
out that Article 15 and Article 21
apply only to the entities which
reside in India, not to those which
want to enter India. Salve says that
the bill doesn't violate secularism
and describes it as a 'narrowly-
tailored' provision that is designed
to address a specific issue.[113]

A petition opposing the bill was

signed by more 1,000 Indian
scientists and scholars.[114] The bill
was opposed by the Indian National
Congress, who said it would create
communal tensions and polarize
India.[115]

Indian Union Muslim League

petitioned the Supreme Court of
India to declare the bill illegal.[116]
The legislation has been criticised in
India and abroad by commentators
who claim that it violates the
secular Constitution of India and its
promise of equality under Article
14.[29][117] According to Nitin
Gadkari, Citizenship Amendment
Act is needed because India is not a
Hindu nation.[118]

Commentators have expressed

concerns that the people who are
unable to produce required
documents to prove their citizenship
and inclusion in NRC will be
accepted as migrants and given
Indian citizenship under the Bill but
the people, of the community other
than six religious communities
mentioned in the Bill and could not
prove their citizenship, will risk
being staleless because they are not
included under the Bill.[10][119][120]

International

The Office of the United Nations

High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) criticized the Act
and called it "fundamentally
discriminatory in nature". It added,
"Although India’s broader
naturalization laws remain in place,
these amendments will have a
discriminatory effect on people’s
access to nationality."[121]

The United States Commission on

International Religious Freedom
(USCIRF) called for sanctions[122]
against Amit Shah and "other
principal leadership" over passage
of the Bill.[123] India's Ministry of
External Affairs issued a statement
in response, stating that the
statement made by the USCIRF was
"neither accurate nor warranted",
and that neither the CAB nor the
NRC sought to strip Indian citizens
of citizenship.[124][125][126] The
United States House Committee on
Foreign Affairs questioned the
intent of the Bill and noted that "
[a]ny religious test for citizenship
undermines this most basic
democratic tenet."[127] On 19
December, however, the United
States Secretary of State state said
that the US respects Indian
democracy since it has a “robust”
internal debate on the Citizenship
Act.[128]
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan
criticized the Act in that "violates all
norms of international human rights
law and bilateral agreements with
Pakistan".[129] Bangladesh's Minister
of Foreign Affairs, A. K. Abdul
Momen said that Bill could weaken
India's historic character as a
secular nation and denied that
minorities were facing religious
persecution in his country.[130]

See also
The Foreigners Act, 1946
Indian nationality law
 National Register of Citizens of
India
Illegal Migrants (Determination by
Tribunal) Act, 1983
Illegal immigration to India
Refugees in India
Assam Accord
1971 Bangladesh genocide

Notes
a. Indian government statistics show
289,394 "stateless persons" in India
in 2014. The majority are from
Bangladesh and Sri Lanka (about
100,000 each), followed by those
 from Tibet, Myanmar, Pakistan and
Afghanistan.[32]

References
1. "The Citizenship (Amendment) Act,
2019" (PDF). The Gazette of India.
12 December 2019. Retrieved
14 December 2019.
2. "Parliament passes the Citizenship
(Amendment) Bill 2019" . pib.gov.in.
Retrieved 18 December 2019.
3. Slater, Joanna (18 December 2019).
"Why protests are erupting over
India's new citizenship law" .
Washington Post. Retrieved
18 December 2019.
4. Farahnaz Ispahani (2017). Purifying
the Land of the Pure: A History of
Pakistan's Religious Minorities .
Oxford University Press. pp. 165–
171. ISBN 978-0-19-062165-0.
5. Bert B. Lockwood (2006). Women's
Rights: A Human Rights Quarterly
Reader . Johns Hopkins University
Press. pp. 227–235. ISBN 978-0-
8018-8373-6.
6. Javaid Rehman (2000). The
Weaknesses in the International
Protection of Minority Rights .
Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
pp. 158–159. ISBN 90-411-1350-9.
7. Sankalpit Bharat Sashakt Bharat ,
BJP Sankalp Patra Lock Sabha 2019
(Manifesto, 2019)
8. Kaur Sandhu, Kamaljit; Singh,
Mausami (9 December 2019).
"Citizenship Amendment Bill has
public endorsement, was part of
manifesto: Amit Shah" . India Today.
Retrieved 19 December 2019. "The
Citizenship Amendment Bill [...] was
required to give protection to people
who are forced to live in pathetic
human condition while rejecting the
argument that a Muslim may suffer
religious persecution in Bangladesh,
Pakistan and Afghanistan saying that
a Muslim is unlikely to face religious
persecution in an Islamic country"
 9. "BJP offer of 'natural home' for Hindu
refugees triggers debate" . Hindustan
Times. 9 April 2014.
10. "The CAB-NRC package is flawed and
dangerous" . Hindustan Times. 7
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Further reading
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill,
2016 - Highlights and Summary by
PRS Legislative Research
External links
Citizenship Amendment Act needed
because there is no Hindu nation:
Nitin Gadkari
Q&A: Ministry of Home Affairs
answers questions on Citizenship
Amendment Act, 2019 , The Times
of India, 17 December 2019.
Report of Refugee Populations in
India , Human Rights Law Network,
November 2007.
Passport (Entry into India)
Amendment Rules, 2015 and
Foreigners (Amendment) Order,
2015 , The Gazette of India No. 553,
8 September 2015.
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as
introduced in Lok Sabha, 2016 , PRS
Legislative Research, 2016.
Report of the Joint Parliament
Committee , Lok Sabha Secretariat,
2019 (via PRS Legislative
Research).
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as
introduced in Lok Sabha, 2019 , PRS
Legislative Research, 2019.
Citizenship (Amendment) Bill as
passed by the Lok Sabha, 2019 ,
PRS Legislative Research, 2019.
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