Citizenship Proof: After Aadhaar, controversy over passport too, which documents are necessary to prove citizenship?
Delhi. Do you have an Indian passport? If yes, then generally you would consider it as the biggest proof of your citizenship. But according to official sources of the government and the rules of the Ministry of External Affairs, it is not so! Recently, a new debate has erupted in the country after the statement of the Ministry of External Affairs calling passport ‘just a travel document’. Let us understand this whole matter in simple language and what the law and the government say on this.
Government sources claim, ‘This is not a new decision’. The government on Thursday clarified that the Modi government has not taken any new decision regarding passport in the last 12 years. According to sources, passport has never been an irrefutable proof of citizenship.
Passport Act 1967
By law, as per ‘Passport Act 1967’, Indian passport can also be issued to non-citizens (foreign nationals) under special circumstances. This is the reason why it is not considered the final document proving citizenship.
Bombay High Court decision
Official sources reminded that the Banwai High Court had also made it clear in one of its judgments in 2013 that passport is not a legal proof of citizenship.
Supreme Court’s comment
During the revision of voter list by the Election Commission, the Supreme Court had also accepted that Aadhaar card is also not a definitive proof of citizenship, it is only a document of identity.
Opposition and celebrities targeted the government
As soon as this clarification from the Ministry of External Affairs came out, sharp reactions were seen on social media and political circles, TMC leader Mahua Moitra wrote sarcastically on ‘X’ (Twitter),
“It seems that today the only proof of Indian citizenship is being a Hindu and a BJP voter. Nothing else will do.”
While asking questions to the government, Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal said,
“Then which document is proof of citizenship? The BLO can doubt my citizenship, stop me from voting. Result: BJP wins the election.”
Apart from this, lyricist Javed Akhtar termed this explanation as ‘absurd’ and wrote on ‘X’,
“The Ministry of External Affairs says that passport is a travel document, not proof of citizenship. Really??? So are they giving this travel document to some people without being completely sure that the person is an Indian citizen? This is absurd.”
Then how will citizenship be proved in India?
To know the answer to this big question, we will have to look at the government documents of the year 2019. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) of the Government of India on 20 December 2019 released a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA):
According to PIB, “Citizenship of any person is decided on the basis of ‘Citizenship Rules, 2009’, which are based on ‘Citizenship Act, 1955’. Citizenship can be proved by submitting any document related to date of birth and place of birth. However, the final list of such acceptable documents is yet to be decided by the government.”
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