CAA: No documents to apply for citizenship? Govt will find a way soon, says Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said the government will soon work out ways to help refugees who do not have the required documents to apply for Indian citizenship under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

CAA promises to provide Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslims who fled Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh and arrived in India on or before December 21, 2014.

‘85% refugees have documents’

In an interview with ANI that was broadcasted on Thursday (March 14), the Union minister said under the current provisions of the law, it is mandatory for aspiring beneficiaries to provide two documents to avail Indian citizenship – one that proves they came from the eligible countries and the second to show that they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

He said that government estimates have found that at least 85 per cent of the refugees seeking Indian citizenship under CAA already possess the required documents.

Undocumented refugees will be interviewed: Shah

He, however, assured that the government will soon work out a way to help refugees who cannot furnish either of the documents.

“We will find a way for those who do not have documents but those who have the documents constitute more than 85 per cent. There is no time limit,” he said.

Asked how the government will go about it, he said, “One can take time to apply, the government of India will call you for an interview as per the time available to you. The government will call you for the audit of the document and a face-to-face interview will be done.”

The Centre on Monday notified the rules for the implementation of the legislation, five years it was passed in Parliament and received the consent of the President.

The Opposition has decried the legislation, specifically targeting the Centre for not including Muslims in the list of beneficiaries. Many from the Muslim community fear the government through the legislation might declare them as illegal immigrants and strip them of their citizenship.

‘No provision for NRC in law’

Addressing concerns over Muslims not being included under the law, Shah said even Muslims have the right to apply for citizenship, but the law in question has only been designed for minorities facing persecution in Muslim majority countries.

“Even Muslims have the right to apply for citizenship...The doors have not been closed for anyone,” he said.

He also assured that the law will neither lead to the religious oppression of Muslims as alleged by politicians like AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi nor snatch their citizenship.

“What is his (Owaisi’s) logic? There cannot be religious oppression of Muslims because Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh are declared Islamic states…There is no provision for NRC in this law. There is no provision in this law to take anyone’s citizenship,” he said.

‘CAA won’t dilute tribal composition’

Shah also sought to dispel the fears of north-eastern states like Assam which are opposing the Act as they fear that the influx of foreigners would dilute their tribal demography.

“CAA will not change or dilute the composition and rights of the tribal areas. We have made provisions in the Act itself that wherever there is an Inner Line Permit and the areas included in the 6th Schedule of the Constitution, CAA will not be applicable there. The applications with the address in those areas will not be uploaded to the app. We have excluded it from the app,” he said.

He also lashed out at the Opposition INDIA bloc, accusing it of spreading misinformation on the legislation.

Asked about the Opposition’s jibe at the Centre for notifying the rules under the law just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Shah said there is no question of timing as the legislation was already passed and was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“All opposition parties including Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee or Arvind Kejriwal are indulging in jhooth ki rajneeti (politics of lies) so the question of timing does not arise. BJP has made it clear in its 2019 manifesto that it will bring CAA and provide Indian citizenship to refugees (from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan). BJP has a clear agenda and under that promise, the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was passed in both houses of Parliament in 2019. It got delayed due to COVID. BJP had cleared its agenda well before the party got its mandate in the polls," he said.