MHA says CAA doesn’t impact Indian Muslims, they enjoy equal rights like Hindus
The ministry of home affairs said no Indian citizen would be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this act
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Tuesday sought to allay fears among the Muslim community about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) saying the law doesn’t impact them as they enjoy equal rights like their Hindu counterparts and that no Indian citizens would be asked to produce any document to prove his or her nationality.

“Indian Muslims need not worry as 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 would be asked to produce any document to prove his citizenship after this act,” the home ministry said in a statement issued in Q&A form, calling it “positive narrative on CAA”.
The statement said the CAA has reduced the qualification period of application for citizenship from 11 to 5 years for the beneficiaries who had been persecuted on religious grounds in Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan and who had entered India on or before December 31, 2014 “with an aim to show a generous treatment to them” and “without curtailing the freedom and opportunity of Indian Muslims to enjoy their rights as they have been usually practising and entertaining since Independence like other Indian citizens belonging to other religions”.
The CAA rules were notified on Monday, bringing the law into effect.
Passed in December 2019, the law grants Indian citizenship to persons belonging to six minority communities - Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists, and Christians in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan – compelled to take shelter in India due to persecution in these countries.
Protests have been reported from Delhi, Assam and some other places against the implementation of CAA and the home ministry is watching the situation closely, people familiar with the developments said Tuesday.
On whether CAA has any provisions for repatriating illegal Muslim migrants to Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan, the MHA statement said the law doesn’t deal with deportation.
“India doesn’t have any agreement with the three countries to repatriate migrants back to these countries. This act doesn’t deal with the deportation of illegal immigrants and therefore the concern of a section of the people including Muslims and students that CAA is against Muslim minorities is unjustifiable,” the statement added.
It further claimed that persecution of minorities in those three Muslim countries “badly tarnished” the name of Islam around the world.
“Islam, being a peaceful religion, never preaches or suggests hatred or violence or any persecution on religious ground. This act showing the compassion and compensation for the persecution, protects Islam from being tarnished in the name of persecution,” the MHA said.
The ministry highlighted that there is no bar on Muslims from anywhere in the world to seek Indian citizenship under section 6 of the citizenship act (1955), which deals with the citizenship by naturalisation”. “CAA does not cancel the naturalisation laws. Therefore, any person including the Muslim migrants from any foreign country, seeking to be an Indian citizen, can apply for the same under the existing laws. This Act does not prevent any Muslim, who is persecuted in those 3 Islamic countries for practicing their version of Islam, from applying for Indian citizenship under the existing laws.”
On the need for implementing the CAA, the ministry statement added that it was done “to show mercy on the persecuted minorities of those three countries”.
“This act gives opportunity to them as per the evergreen generous culture of India to get Indian citizenship for their happy and prosperous future. To customise the citizenship system and control the illegal migrants, there was a need for this act,” it added.
Referring to other initiatives taken by the Centre for minorities from three countries, MHA said long term visas were allowed for such persons in 2016.
