CAA won’t impact citizenship of Indian Muslims, says Centre

The Ministry of Home Affairs press note, which answered eight questions regarding CAA’s impact on Islam and Muslims, was later pulled down from government’s website.

In a bid to allay the fears of Muslims after the rules of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) were notified a day ago, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on March 12 that “no Indian citizen would be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this Act.”

The MHA, in a press note titled “positive narrative on CAA, 2019”, has answered eight questions regarding its impact on Islam and Muslims. The document was pulled down from government’s website late on March 12.

While responding to a question on the CAA’s impact on Muslims living in India, the MHA says, “Indian Muslims need not worry as the CAA has not made any provision to impact their citizenship and has nothing to do with the present 18 crore Indian Muslims, who have equal rights like their Hindu counterparts. No Indian citizen will be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this Act.” 

There are fears and apprehensions that the CAA, which allows citizenship on the basis of religion to six undocumented religious communities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who entered India on or before December 31, 2014, followed by a countrywide compilation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), will adversely affect the Muslim community. While the CAA will come to the rescue of non-Muslims excluded from the NRC, the excluded Muslims will have to prove citizenship. As many as 83 persons were killed in protest and riots from December 2019-March 2020 in Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Meghalaya and Delhi after the CAA was passed. The Centre has informed the Parliament that “till now the government has not taken any decision to prepare NRC at national level” and has denied that the CAA and the NRC are linked.