'Provisions Of CAA May Violate Certain Articles Of Indian Constitution': US Congress Research Unit

Observations made in a report by Congressional Research Service, which produces reports on topics of relevance to Congress members. This is not an official report of the Congress itself. 

A research unit that works with the United States Congress has said in a report that key provisions of the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) may be violative of the Constitution of India. The CAA, which amends India’s 1955 Citizenship Act, was cleared by Parliament in 2019 and rules under the law were notified last month. It seeks to ease the path to Indian citizenship for members of six minority communities from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who had entered India until December 2014.

“The CAA’s key provisions — allowing immigrants of six religions from three countries a path to citizenship while excluding Muslims — may violate certain articles of the Indian Constitution,” says the report of the Congressional Research Service (CRS), even as it notes that the Indian government and other proponents of the CAA assert that the aim of the law is purely humanitarian.

The CRS report notes that the "opponents of the act warn that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are pursuing a Hindu majoritarian, anti-Muslim agenda that threatens India’s status as an officially secular republic and violates international human rights norms and obligations".

"In tandem with a National Register of Citizens (NRC) planned by the federal government, the CAA may threaten the rights of India’s large Muslim minority of roughly 200 million," it adds.

The report says the "lead US diplomat for the region", in 2019, expressed “genuine concern” about “India’s trajectory” and that "issues such as the CAA 'not detract from India’s ability ... to stand with us in trying to promote, again, this free and open IndoPacific'".

The CRS report says some members of the US Congress have expressed related concerns, including in the 118th Congress, where House Resolution 542 "would condemn human rights violations and violations of international religious freedom in India", and Senate Resolution 424, which seeks “a swift end to the persecution of, and violence against, religious minorities and human rights defenders in India", and "which urges New Delhi to amend 'discriminatory' laws such as the CAA".

The CRS produces reports on topics of relevance to Congress members to help them make informed decisions. This is not an official report made by the Congress itself. 

The central government has dismissed the criticism against the CAA and said "vote-bank politics" should not determine views about a "laudable initiative" to help those in distress.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday defended the CAA in West Bengal and said no one can stop its implementation. He said the CAA is not about taking away citizenship but to provide citizenship to people displaced from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on religious grounds.