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Old video of CJI's son Abhinav Chandrachud speaking on CAA viral
Advocate Abhinav Chandrachud in the 2020 video argued why CAA did not include Jews, atheists, agnostics, orphans.
As the Centre notified the Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 triggering political backlash, a 2020 video of advocate Abhinav Chandrachud explaining why CAA is unconstitutional is going viral. Abhinav Chandrachud is the son of the present Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud. In the video, Abhinav argued that the CAA is unconstitutional because it excludes certain religions like Jews.
When the country was partitioned, two waves of migration took place from West Pakistan to India -- one in 1947 consisting of Hindus and Sikhs, the second was in 1948 which consisted of Muslims and this second wave of return created problems for the Indian administration, Abhinav said explaining that Hindus and Sikhs were given the properties of the Muslims who left India. So there came a permit system for someone who left India and who wanted to come back to India, Abhinav said. The permit system, however, was not used for East Pakistan, he said. "This puzzled me and made me wonder why it was not for East Pakistan...while there were only about seven or eight hundred thousand Hindus left in West Pakistan, there were 16 million Hindus left in East Pakistan at the time when the permit system was introduced," he said.
During the peak of the anti-CAA protest in 2020, Abhinav said when he posted on social media that why Jews were not included in the CAA, he was told that Jews have Israel. "Then Christians and Buddhists have their own country too...we have not included atheists..you excluded agnostics who don't know whether there is a God or not. You have left out Muslims who may be considered minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh..." he said.
The CAA will give Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs Christians, Buddhists Jains and Parsis who migrated from neighbouring Muslim-majority countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, before December 31, 2014.
"The residence requirement in India has been reduced by the Citizenship Amendment Act. So anyone else who wants to apply to be a citizen by naturalisation has to reside in India for 11 years. But for somebody who falls under the Citizenship Amendment Act, the residency requirement is only five years. Look how this applies to Parsis. Parsis originally fled Iran. A Parsi who fled Iran and came to India has to wait 11 years to be naturalised as a citizen but a Parsi who flees Afghanistan has to wait only 5 years. This does not make any sense to me..." Abhinav said.
The CAA notification has started a political slugfest with the INDIA bloc condemning the notification just ahead of the election. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said it is a very dangerous decision which will lead to a collapse in law and order and then a rise in thefts, robberies and rape. The comment drew flak from the BJP and also from the Sikhs who denounced Kejriwal for calling them thieves and rapists.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said CAA is a political gimmick and she won't allow any detention camps in West Bengal.
