CAB : For or Against us ?

 Before you start the blog I want to let you know that this article doesn’t support or oppose anything or anyone. This is just to let you know about the facts and flaws of the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 in a nutshell. So, I hope you will take it with a mature and open mind set, and please do SHARE it if you find it informative.

The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 is a bill/legislation passed by the government of India on 11th of December 2019. But it is seen that unlike other general legislations this act has become one of the most controversial and most debated legislation in a very short period of time. So here we will discuss and know some of its major points and the questions that this act arises.

What is the Purpose of this Act ?
The CAB 2019 is the first major change made to the Citizenship Act of 1955. Mark the words, it says first ‘major change’ which means there were changes made to it before but not on such a high scale like it has been done this time. The major change that is brought by this act is that if anyone who is religiously persecuted for following or belonging to these six religions: Hindu, Jain, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist or Parsis from these three countries: Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan wants to come and settle down in India then they will be provided the citizenship of India and all the benefits that Indians avail. There are some restrictions which we will discuss further. For now we must remember that people from only from these three countries can get Indian citizenship and people from any other country except these 3 cannot take advantage of CAB.

Why this Act only considers these three Countries ?
The main reason why these three countries Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan are considered under CAB is that these three countries follow ‘State Religion Criteria’, which means it is clearly stated in the constitution of these countries that their major religion will be Islam and all other religions will be minorities in their respective countries. In case of India, there is no such rule mentioned in the constitution which supports or opposes any particular religion.

Why now, and not before ?
In the above mentioned three countries, religions other than Islam are seen as minority and hence the people following these religions are either forced to change their religion or to leave the country. People who opt for the second option often flee from the country and take shelter in India under illegal refugee camps where no facility is provided to them by the government. This is seen to be happening from a long ago, it’s just that this time the government has decided to provide the legal facilities to them.

What has been the major point of controversy regarding this Act ?
If you read the above mentioned facts clearly then you’ll find that this legislation seeks to make it easier for non-Muslim refugees and illegal immigrants from the three Islamic majority countries to get Indian Citizenship. But what if a ‘Muslim’ person from these countries is persecuted and wants to come and settle in India? This Act will not provide any kind of special facility for them if they are Muslims from these three countries and they come to India ‘Illegally’, mark the word illegally. If Muslims from these countries come to India through legal routes and want to settle here, they will be provided citizenship of India after 11 years, as it was done before too. No change has been made to it. For the non-Muslim refugees only, this process is fastened and instead of 11 years, they will get citizenship after 6 years of settlement in India.

Exceptions of this Act:
Before 2019, this Act was once tried to introduce in 2016 but was heavily protested in the north-eastern states of India due to their personal reasons. So this time these north-eastern states are provided with some exceptions from the CAB. The exceptions are: if anyone from the three countries comes to India and gets citizenship, then also they cannot enter in Assam, Meghalaya or Tripura at any cost. For other north-eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram or Nagaland, immigrant citizens have to issue a special permit known as ‘Inner Line Permit’ for a specific duration of time and with a proper reason if they want to visit there. The permit facility will soon be started for Manipur too after the permission of president.
The reason for the exception of the north-eastern states is that the people there are very conservative regarding their culture and traditions and they don’t want outsiders to come in large numbers and ruin their tradition and culture.

What are the major Issues and criticism points regarding this Act ?

1. The fundamental criticism point for this bill always has been that it specifically targets the Muslim community. This is by far the first major bill of the constitution which is based on religious basis.
2. This Act violates Article 14, which is the ‘Right to Equality’ which is applicable for everyone including the non-citizens of India.
3. This bill is only applicable for refugees fleeing from Muslim majority countries and not any other religion majority countries.
4. Despite of the facilities provided, the north-eastern states are still opposing the bill because of the fact that the refugees coming from Bangladesh will definitely go to settle in those nearby north-eastern states and not the distant states like Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This arises anxiety and fear in the minds of the north-eastern people.
5. The Act doesn’t considers other neighbours of India like Sri Lanka, Nepal and Tibet from which many of the minority people are persecuted every year on the basis of following the minority religion.

Indian Government’s Response to the Criticism:
The Indian government stated that in the past too there were many major changes made in the constitution according to situation’s demand and this will also be done in future according to that time’s major demand. For the present situation, the best suited solution is being applied.


So these were all the facts and information regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAB) 2019 in a nutshell. Now it depends completely on you if you want to support or oppose this Act. Do let me know in the comments what is your opinion regarding this Act, and please do SHARE this blog with your friends if you found it informative.

Thank you :)