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ELECTION 2018CITIZENSHIP

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the Citizenship Amendment Act affect any Does CAA apply to other forms of persecution —
of the Indian citizens? political, racial, sexual etc?
No No. The CAA is very specific in its intend — Hindus…
religious persecution…3 countries
Whom does it apply to?
Only to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists & Christians Why only these 3 countries?
from 3 countries who are facing religious persecution in These 3 countries have a track record of pervasive, sys-
those countries and who are already in India (before 1st tematic and institutionalized persecution of Hindus
Dec 2014).
What about Sri Lankan Tamils?
Which are these 3 countries? (1) The war has been over for the a decade now.
Pakistan, Bangladesh & Afghanistan (2). There never was any persecution on religious lines. It
was on racial lines.
In what way does it benefit Hindus, Sikhs, Jains & (3) And over the decades of civil war the Sri Lankans have
Christians from these 3 countries? put an end to institutionalized discrimination of Tamils
Their residency requirement has been reduced from
11 to 5 years. And they can claim citizenship as a right Doesn’t India have an obligation under the UN to
under this law take care of refugees?
Yes it does. And it is not shying away from it. But it has no
Does this mean that Muslims from these 3 countries obligation to offer citizenship. Each country has its own
can never get Indian citizenship? rules for naturalization. India is not going to turn away
No. But they will go thro’ the usual process of acquiring other refugees under this law. It will play host to them
citizenship thro’ naturalization rules like 11 years of resi- under UN rules, in the implicit expectation that some
dence etc. day they will return to their homelands when the con-
ditions improve. But in the case of Hindus from these 3
Will illegal Muslim immigrants from these 3 countries, this law acknowledges the reality that the
countries be automatically deported under CAA? environment of persecution in these 3 countries is never
No. The usual process applies. Their application for natu- going to improve
ralization may or may not be granted depending on their
eligibility Why shouldn’t Baluchis, Ahmediyas in Pakistan,
Rohingayas in Myanmar not be considered for this
Can Hindus facing persecution in other countries kindness?
apply under this law? They may be considered under the existing laws and not
No under this special category.

(TISS) Mumbai, Central University of Kerala, Kasargod demanded that the governmenttake action against
and Pondicherry University. Students from the Mum- police “hooliganism”. In Bengaluru, civil society
bai University, Patiala’s Punjab University and Patna assembled to protest Jamia violence and CAA near
University also held protests. Town Hall and led a procession towards Freedom
Students from three Indian Institutes of Technology Park, but the police did not allowed their march. The
(IITs) in Kanpur, Madras and Bombay, Indian Institute protesters remarked, “We cannot allow government
of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru and IIM Ahmedabad to divide us on gender or religion.”
among others also joined the protests besides the Down south, in Hyderabad (Telangana), students
Delhi University where students boycotted exams and of Maulana Azad Urdu University, the University of
held a protest outside the Faculty of Social Sciences Hyderabad (UoH) and the Osmania University, staged
in North Campus to express their solidarity with the sit-in inside their campuses, holding placards. Besides
movement. IIT-Madras, students of educational institutions in
The students of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) Tamil Nadu, including the Loyola College in Chennai
in Varanasi and at the Jadavpur University in Kolkata and the Central University of Tamil Nadu at Tiruvarur,

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