Amidst disturbing reports that illegal Bangladeshi immigrants are managing to secure the Aadhar card for a modest price, the Mumbai High Court’s order refusing to recognise a birth certificate, passport or even an Aadhaar card as proof of citizenship in the absence of other evidences, comes as a ray of hope to the country’s besieged Hindu community which has been suffering demographic aggression for over six decades.
The decision can help honest officials to cancel the illegal ration cards and voter identity cards that migrants secure through political patronage, with official complicity. Indeed, whistleblowers exposing such rackets could seriously discourage illegal migrants and help block a major threat to national security, as politicians may no longer help illegals if they do not get the benefit of a captive votebank. Given the complexity of the situation in many sensitive parts of the country, and the specific threat faced on specific borders, it may be in order to thoroughly verify and strictly implement our citizenship criteria.
As of now, a person is Indian by birth if born in India on or after January 26, 1950 but before July 1, 1987. A person born in India after July 1, 1987 can claim automatic citizenship if at least one parent is Indian. Finally, persons born in India on or after December 3, 2004 can claim citizenship by birth only if both parents are Indians, or if one parent is a citizen and the other is not an illegal immigrant. While this seems comprehensive enough, tardy implementation is proving a curse.
Unknown to most Indians, for over a decade, young Chinese girls have been entering Arunachal Pradesh, marrying locals, and settling down in India. The offspring are raised as Chinese-speaking Arunachalis, and hence are not difficult to identify. Similarly, Bangladeshi men have been entering other north eastern States and marrying local girls.
Similar situations prevail on other borders. In Jammu and Kashmir, youth who went to Pakistan for arms training to fight against India, often married local Pakistani girls. Some of these men (with their wives and children) are now returning to India under an illegal amnesty scheme floated by the State Government, with the complicity of the Union Government.
Clearly, such an open door policy can only be to India’s detriment in the long-term. As an immediate first step, we must prepare a separate register of persons who have availed (are availing) of the one-parent formula to acquire citizenship.
In the case of September 2, 2013, the Bombay high court refused to grant relief to four persons accused of being illegal immigrants even after they produced passports, Aadhaar cards and birth certificates to prove they were Indians. Justice KU Chandiwal said the persons needed to establish that their parents were also Indian nationals and not illegal immigrants. The Court upheld the prosecution contention that the accused were Bangladeshis who had entered India illegally, and asserted that while a birth certificate may show that a person was born in India, the law does not recognize that as proof of citizenship. This verdict, applied with honesty, could weed out several thousand illegal migrants from all over the country.
Another citizenship bomb concerns Tibetan refugees, whose youth are expressing interest in Indian citizenship as they have little hope of returning to Tibet. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1986 grants citizenship rights to Tibetans born in India between 1950 and 1987 and to those born after 1987 if one parent is a citizen of India at the time of birth. Namgyal Dolkar Lhagyari, born in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh in 1986, was the first Tibetan to secure Indian citizenship after a legal battle in January 2011. At current estimates, there are one hundred thousand Tibetan refugees in India.
The issue of Indian citizenship for Tibetan refugees – those who came to India with or around the same time as the Dalai Lama, those who trickled in thereafter via Nepal, and those who came with the Karmapa – is complex, and involves humanitarian and political issues. Rather than let these fester, the Government of India should take a position. At one level, the Tibetans would move from being stateless refugees to becoming Indian citizens, who could then use their education to get proper jobs, buy property legally, and keep their money safely in banks.
The main issue, however, is political. The Tibetans will have to officially renounce the quest for liberation/autonomy for Tibet, and turn India-centric. This would likely be welcomed by Beijing, but is unlikely to find favour with the Western supporters of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile (unrecognized by India), for whom Tibet has long been a convenient peg with which to needle China.
A largely ignored dimension of the dispute is that, in the guise of being devotees of the Dalai Lama or Karmapa, the Tibetan communities in India are deeply penetrated by spies from all major world capitals that seek a toehold in the Himalayas. As the international situation becomes increasingly volatile, India needs to seriously think about this open portal into its heartland.
Niticentral.com, 4 September 2013
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/09/04/indian-citizenship-is-no-game-128460.html