Image courtesy: The Citizen
Since independence, Indian citizenship has been firmly rooted in the Constitution. In its citizenship provisions, the Constitution insists on the fundamentals of equality, regardless of gender, caste, religion, class, community or language.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019 tears to shreds the inclusive, composite vision of India that guided our freedom struggle. In the amendments it introduces to the Citizenship Act of 1955, the new Bill violates every single one of these fundamentals of the Constitution. In fact, it is not a mere change in statute. It is a Bill that will alter, fundamentally, the character of the Indian republic.
For the first time since the founding of our free and secular republic, the Bill makes religion the key to citizenship. The Bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act 1955 so that non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan can be offered an expedited path to citizenship. For the first time there is a statutory attempt to offer privileges to certain faiths. For the first time, there is an attempt, by statute, to exclude Muslims from the possibility of amnesty and citizenship — for no reason other than their religion. In fact, nowhere, under the successive reigns this country has had through millennia, is it possible to find the articulation of an official position that has denied migrants or refugees a place on the basis of religion.
The CAB has to be viewed along with the proposed nation-wide implementation of the National Register of Citizens. Already the NRC exercise in Assam has shown us the terrible human costs of dividing people and linking citizenship to papers and detention centres and tribunals, especially among those who already lead a precarious existence. Death, families torn apart; detention camps and foreigners’ tribunals; fear, the confusion of statelessness — this is what the common people, especially minorities, women, children and the poor have had to suffer and continue to suffer. The Citizenship Bill, as well as a nation-wide NRC, will unleash widespread division and suffering among people across the country — rather than address the critical needs of the people, from food security and employment to the annihilation of discrimination based on caste, community and gender, to the freedom to speak, worship, and live as our diverse people choose.
The Bill states that non-Muslims from three Muslim-majority countries will be granted citizenship if they have faced religious persecution in their countries; or if they migrated to India fearing such persecution. Why leave out refugees such as Rohingyas from Myanmar or Tamils from Sri Lanka or Ahmadiyyas from Pakistan? Why focus on only three countries as if these constitute the only possible sources of asylum-seekers? The Bill shows us, sharply, that India needs a refugee policy in line with international law, not a law dictated by an ideology that makes use of religion for political gains.
Indian citizenship flows from the Constitution. The Citizenship Amendment Bill’s blatant exclusion of a community is discriminatory and divisive. It violates the secular principles enshrined in the Constitution — including Articles 14,15, 16 and 21 which guarantee the right to equality; equality before the law; and non-discriminatory treatment by the Indian state. The Bill threatens the federal framework provided by the Constitution. It has ignored the need for debate in Parliament as well as open and widespread public debate in a constitutional democracy.
All of us from the cultural and academic communities condemn this Bill as divisive, discriminatory and unconstitutional. It will, along with a nationwide NRC, bring untold suffering to people across the country. It will damage, fundamentally and irreparably, the nature of the Indian republic. This is why we demand that the government withdraw the Bill. This is why we demand that the government not betray the Constitution. We call on all people of conscience to insist that the Constitutional commitment to an equal and secular citizenry be honoured.
[table id=20 /]
| 1 | A Selvaraj | 210 | Jahnabi | 419 | Ram Rahman |
| 2 | Abdul khan | 211 | Jamsheed Rizwani | 420 | Ramachandra Guha |
| 3 | Abdul Wahab | 212 | Javed Malick | 421 | Ramsharan Joshi |
| 4 | Abdullah | 213 | Jawarimal Parakh | 422 | Rana Dasgupta |
| 5 | Abdussalam Puthige | 214 | Jawhar Sircar | 423 | Rana Khan |
| 6 | Abhijit Sen | 215 | Jay Patel | 424 | Rangan Chakravarty |
| 7 | Abhijit Sengupta | 216 | Jayan Kaipra | 425 | Rani Day |
| 8 | AC Sreehari | 217 | Jayant B Joshi | 426 | Rani Dharker |
| 9 | Achin Vanaik | 218 | Jayarani | 427 | Ranjit Hoskote |
| 10 | Adil Jussawalla | 219 | Jayashree Borah | 428 | Ratna Raman |
| 11 | Aditi Govil | 220 | Jayati Ghosh | 429 | Ravi Bamezai |
| 12 | Aditi Joshi | 221 | JE Radhakrishna | 430 | Ravi Sidlipura |
| 13 | Aditi Mehta | 222 | Jeet Thayil | 431 | Ravinder Banyal |
| 14 | Aditya Mukherjee | 223 | Jeroo Mulla | 432 | Rebecca Kurian |
| 15 | Afreen Khan | 224 | Jerry Pinto | 433 | Rekha Awasthi |
| 16 | Ajai Singh | 225 | Jiten Nandi | 434 | Rina Kamath |
| 17 | Ajit Prakash Shah | 226 | Juhi | 435 | Ritu Menon |
| 18 | Ajitha GS | 227 | Jyothi A | 436 | Ritwik Banerjee |
| 19 | AK Dave | 228 | Jyoti Punwani | 437 | Rohan D'Souza |
| 20 | Akanksha Singh | 229 | Jyotirmaya Sharma | 438 | Rohit Manchanda |
| 21 | Akeel Bilgrami | 230 | K John Koshy | 439 | Romila Thapar |
| 22 | Ali Imam Khan | 231 | K Satchidanandan | 440 | Rosinka Chaudhuri |
| 23 | Alok Sarin | 232 | K Sujatha Rao | 441 | Ruhie Kumar |
| 24 | AM Khan | 233 | Kabi | 442 | Rukmini Bhaya Nair |
| 25 | Amit Bhaduri | 234 | Kalpana D Malaye | 443 | Ruquia Hussain |
| 26 | Amit Chaudhuri | 235 | Kalyani Chaudhuri | 444 | RV Achari |
| 27 | Amitabha Basu | 236 | Kamakshi Balasubramanian | 445 | S Farman Ahmad Naqvi |
| 28 | Amitabha Pande | 237 | Kamlanand Jha | 446 | S Raghunandana |
| 29 | Amitav Ghosh | 238 | Karen Gabriel | 447 | Saba Dewan |
| 30 | Amitava Kumar | 239 | Karthik Venkatesh | 448 | Saba Hasan |
| 31 | Ammu Joseph | 240 | Karthika Nair | 449 | Sabah Khan |
| 32 | Anand Arni | 241 | Kaushik Barua | 450 | Sabyasachi Chatterjee |
| 33 | Anand Mathew | 242 | Kaushik Ramanathan | 451 | Sachin Raj Mavale |
| 34 | Anand Patwardhan | 243 | Kavery Nambisan | 452 | Sadhna Saxena |
| 35 | Anand Teltumbde | 244 | Kavita Krishnan | 453 | Sahba Husain |
| 36 | Ananda Babu | 245 | KE Radhakrishna | 454 | Saikat Majumdar |
| 37 | Ananya Dasgupta | 246 | Kedar Soni | 455 | Saileena |
| 38 | Ananya Vajpeyi | 247 | Keki Daruwalla | 456 | Salahuddin Ahmad |
| 39 | Angelie Multani | 248 | Keshav Desiraju | 457 | Saleem Peeradina |
| 40 | Ania Loomba | 249 | Ketaki Dutt-Paul | 458 | Salil Chaturvedi |
| 41 | Anil Janvijay | 250 | Kirti jain | 459 | Salim Yusufji |
| 42 | Anil Kumar Roy | 251 | KM Chandrasekhar | 460 | Samdarshi Barthwal |
| 43 | Anil Kumar Singh | 252 | KM Srinivasa Gowda | 461 | Samik Bandyopadhyay |
| 44 | Aniruddha Sen Gupta | 253 | KP Fabian | 462 | San Mandal |
| 45 | Anirudh Deshpande | 254 | KP Jayasankar | 463 | Sanchita |
| 46 | Anisha Ahuja | 255 | KP Sasi | 464 | Sandeep Meel |
| 47 | Anita Agnihotri | 256 | Krishnan Unni P | 465 | Sandeep Pandey |
| 48 | Anita Dighe | 257 | Krishnaswamy S | 466 | Sandesh Prabhudesai |
| 49 | Anita Rampal | 258 | Kuldeep Kumar | 467 | Sandhya Gokhale |
| 50 | Anita Vachharajni | 259 | Kumar Prashant | 468 | Sandhya Srinivasan |
| 51 | Anitha Thampi | 260 | Kumkum Roy | 469 | Sanghita Sen |
| 52 | Anjali Monteiro | 261 | L Ramdas | 470 | Sanjay Kumar Misra |
| 53 | Anjum Hasan | 262 | Lakshmi Karunakaran | 471 | Sanjeev Kumar |
| 54 | Ankita Srivastava | 263 | Lalita Ramdas | 472 | Sanjukta Wagh |
| 55 | Annie Koshi | 264 | Laltu | 473 | Sankar Varma KC |
| 56 | Anshu Saluja | 265 | Lara Jesani | 474 | Sarandha Jain |
| 57 | Antara Dev Sen | 266 | Leela Jacinto | 475 | Saroop Dhruv |
| 58 | Anuradha Kapur | 267 | Lesbians and Bisexuals in Action | 476 | Sarwat Ali |
| 59 | Anuradha Kumar | 268 | Lima Kanungo | 477 | Sathya S |
| 60 | Anuradha Lobo | 269 | MA Baby | 478 | Satish Chand Abbi |
| 61 | Anvar Ali | 270 | Maansi Shah | 479 | Satyajit Rath |
| 62 | Anvita Abbi | 271 | Madan Lal Hind | 480 | Satyendra Kumar |
| 63 | Anya | 272 | Madhavi Menon | 481 | Saumya Baijal |
| 64 | AP Muraleedharan | 273 | Madhu Bhaduri | 482 | Savyasaachi |
| 65 | Aparajita Roy Sinha | 274 | Madhu Bhushan | 483 | Selvyn Jussy |
| 66 | Aparna Sen | 275 | Madhu Prasad | 484 | SG Vasudev |
| 67 | Apurba K Baruah | 276 | Madhu Sarin | 485 | Shabana Mashraku |
| 68 | Arati Luthra Pinto | 277 | Madhumita Mazumdar | 486 | Shabnam Hashmi |
| 69 | Archana Hande | 278 | Mahamud Padubidri | 487 | Shafey Kidwai |
| 70 | Archana Shah | 279 | Makarand Sathe | 488 | Shafi Alam |
| 71 | Archisman Chaudhuri | 280 | Mala Dayal | 489 | Shakeel Ahmad Burney |
| 72 | Arif Ghauri | 281 | Malini Adiga | 490 | Shakira Khanum |
| 73 | Arijit Sen | 282 | Malini Sur | 491 | Shalini Advani |
| 74 | Arnab Majumder | 283 | Manas Ghosh | 492 | Shals Mahajan |
| 75 | Arun Kumar | 284 | Manasi | 493 | Shambhu Yadav |
| 76 | Aruna Roy | 285 | Mangad Rathnakaran | 494 | Shamsul Islam |
| 77 | Arundhati Dhuru | 286 | Mangala Kamble | 495 | Shamya Dasgupta |
| 78 | Arundhati Roy | 287 | Mangalesh Dabral | 496 | Shantha Sinha |
| 79 | Arvind Das | 288 | Manisha Shastri | 497 | Sharad Behar |
| 80 | Arvind Krishna Mehrotra | 289 | Manishi Jani | 498 | Sharad Raj |
| 81 | Asfiya Karimi | 290 | Manjari Mehta | 499 | Sharda Ugra |
| 82 | Ashlin Mathew | 291 | Manju Kapur | 500 | Shashi Deshpande |
| 83 | Ashok Bhalla | 292 | Manjula CG | 501 | Shaveta Sharma |
| 84 | Ashok Bhowmick | 293 | Manorama Sharma | 502 | Sherna Dastur |
| 85 | Ashok Kumar Pandey | 294 | Manoranjan Mohanty | 503 | Shirish Jugare |
| 86 | Ashok Kumar Sharma | 295 | Mansi Bhatt | 504 | Shital Salunkhe |
| 87 | Ashok Vajpeyi | 296 | Manu Chakravarthy N | 505 | Shiv Mukherjee |
| 88 | Ashwani Kumar | 297 | Maya Pandit | 506 | Shivaji Shinde |
| 89 | Asif Mohammed | 298 | Md Rafe Arfi | 507 | Shobha Singh |
| 90 | Astad Deboo | 299 | Meena CK | 508 | Shoma A Chatterji |
| 91 | Atamjit Singh | 300 | Meena Gupta | 509 | Shreevatsa Nevatia |
| 92 | Atul Gurtu | 301 | Meera Devidayal | 510 | Shrirang Joshi |
| 93 | Atul Sood | 302 | Megha Malhotra | 511 | Shruti Sharma |
| 94 | Audrick D Mello | 303 | Meghan K | 512 | Shyam Menon |
| 95 | Avleen Kaur | 304 | MG Devasahayam | 513 | Sidhant |
| 96 | Ayesha Kidwai | 305 | Milind Mohan Kshirsagar | 514 | Simona Sawhney |
| 97 | Ayushya Kaul | 306 | Mitakshara Roy | 515 | Sipra Mukherjee |
| 98 | Aziz Minat | 307 | ML Murty | 516 | SK Das |
| 99 | B Rajeevan | 308 | MMP Singh | 517 | Smriti Nevatia |
| 100 | Badri Raina | 309 | MN Ashish Ganju | 518 | Sobha Nambisan |
| 101 | Balwinder Singh | 310 | Mohammad Faheem | 519 | Sohail Hashmi |
| 102 | Bama | 311 | Mohan Rao | 520 | Sona Rai |
| 103 | Banani Mukhia | 312 | Mohd Mujtaba Ahmad | 521 | Sonia Jabbar |
| 104 | Bappa Sinha | 313 | Moinak Biswas | 522 | Souradeep Roy |
| 105 | Bapu B | 314 | Moolchandra Gautam | 523 | SP Ambrose |
| 106 | Benny Kuruvilla | 315 | Motiur Rahman Khan | 524 | Sreyashi Dastidar |
| 107 | Bezwada Wilson | 316 | Mridul Dudeja | 525 | Srutokirti Basak |
| 108 | Bharat Tiwari | 317 | Mridula Garg | 526 | Subasri Krishnan |
| 109 | Bharati Jagannathan | 318 | Mridula Koshy | 527 | Subha Das Mollick |
| 110 | Bhasha Singh | 319 | Mridula Mukherjee | 528 | Subha Mukherji |
| 111 | Bheemanagowda K | 320 | Mrinal kanti Dhank | 529 | Subhasis Bandyopadhyay |
| 112 | Bhoomika D Pandhare | 321 | Mritiunjoy Mohanty | 530 | Subrat Kumar Sahu |
| 113 | Binayak Bhattacharya | 322 | MS Murali Krishna | 531 | Sudhanva Deshpande |
| 114 | Bizeth Banerjee | 323 | MS Prakash Babu | 532 | Sudhir Chandra |
| 115 | BK Joshi | 324 | Mugdha Karnik | 533 | Sudhir Patwardhan |
| 116 | Bolwar Mahamad Kunhi | 325 | Mundoli Narayanan | 534 | Sudhir Suman |
| 117 | Bonani Kakkar | 326 | Mzkhan | 535 | Sujata |
| 118 | Brijesh Kumar | 327 | Nabina Das | 536 | Sujata Patel |
| 119 | Brinelle D'souza | 328 | Naina Dayal | 537 | Sukanta Chaudhuri |
| 120 | BRP Bhaskar | 329 | Nancy Adajania | 538 | Sukanya Mitra |
| 121 | BS Unnikrishnan | 330 | Nandana Dev Sen | 539 | Sukhmani Riar |
| 122 | C Balakrishnan | 331 | Nandini Sundar | 540 | Sukirtharani |
| 123 | C Ramakrishnan | 332 | Nandita Basu | 541 | Sumana Roy |
| 124 | Chaman Lal | 333 | Nandita Das | 542 | Sumanta Banerjee |
| 125 | Chandani Mehta | 334 | Nandita Narain | 543 | Sumi Krishna |
| 126 | Chandrakant Patil | 335 | Nandita Palchoudhuri | 544 | Sunanda Bhat |
| 127 | Chandramohan S | 336 | Narendra Dengle | 545 | Sundar Burra |
| 128 | Chayanika Shah | 337 | Narendra Sisodia | 546 | Sunetra Gupta |
| 129 | Cheriyan Alexander | 338 | Naresh Dadhich | 547 | Sunil Shanbag |
| 130 | Chitra Mathur | 339 | Nataraj Honnavalli | 548 | Sunit Arora |
| 131 | Chitra Palekar | 340 | Natasha Badhwar | 549 | Supriya Chaudhuri |
| 132 | Chitralekha Basu | 341 | Navsharan Singh | 550 | Supriya Gandhi |
| 133 | Christopher Nag | 342 | Nazer Aziz Anjum | 551 | Supriya Nair |
| 134 | Civic Chnandran | 343 | NC Saxena | 552 | Surajit Sarkar |
| 135 | Cynthia Stephen | 344 | Neel Chaudhuri | 553 | Suresh BV |
| 136 | Dabu Mayanglambam | 345 | Neelima Sharma | 554 | Suresh Kodoor |
| 137 | Dakxin Chhara | 346 | Neeraj Malik | 555 | Suroor Mander |
| 138 | Damodar Mauzo | 347 | Nidhi Varma | 556 | Susan Philip |
| 139 | David Davidar | 348 | Nikhat Riyaz | 557 | Sushi Kadanakuppe |
| 140 | Deb Mukharji | 349 | Nikhil Jois KS | 558 | Sushi Kadanakuppe MDS |
| 141 | Debjani Bhattacharyya | 350 | Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay | 559 | Sushil Dubey |
| 142 | Debjani Sengupta | 351 | Nilima Sheikh | 560 | Sushil Khanna |
| 143 | Devaki Jain | 352 | Niranjana Kaipra | 561 | Sushma Varma |
| 144 | Devaki Khanna | 353 | Nisha Biswas | 562 | Sutanuka Ghosh |
| 145 | Devika S | 354 | Nitin Basrur | 563 | Suvir Kaul |
| 146 | Devraj | 355 | Nitin Desai | 564 | Suvra Ghosh |
| 147 | Devyani Srinivasan | 356 | Nityanand Jayaraman | 565 | Svati Joshi |
| 148 | Dhirendra K Jha | 357 | Nivedita Menon | 566 | Swapan K Chakravorty |
| 149 | Dhritiman Chaterji | 358 | NK Raghupathy | 567 | Swapna Liddle |
| 150 | Dilip G | 359 | Noor Zaheer | 568 | Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi |
| 151 | Dilip M Menon | 360 | NP Hafiz Mohamad | 569 | Syed Hasan Mahmud |
| 152 | Dilip Panse | 361 | Nupur Asher | 570 | Syed Javier Hussain |
| 153 | Dimple Oberoi Vahali | 362 | Orijit Sen | 571 | Syeda Rafia Jabeen |
| 154 | Dolphy Dsouza | 363 | P Bilimale | 572 | T Surendra Rao |
| 155 | Dunu Roy | 364 | P Rajamanickam | 573 | Tapati Guha-Thakurta |
| 156 | Durga Bhavani S | 365 | Padma Velaskar | 574 | Teesta Setalvad |
| 157 | EV Ramakrishnan | 366 | Palash Mehrotra | 575 | Teren Sevea |
| 158 | Faisal Khan | 367 | Pamela Philipose | 576 |
Thanksy Francis Thekkekara |
| 159 | Farida Abdulla Khan | 368 | Pankaj Bisht | 577 | TM Krishna |
| 160 | Fazal Imam Mallick | 369 | Papori Bora | 578 | Tony Joseph |
| 161 | G Arunima | 370 | Pariplab Chakraborty | 579 | Tripti Bassi |
| 162 | G Ramakrishna | 371 | Partha Chatterjee | 580 | Tuhin Kanti Ghosh |
| 163 | G Sankaran | 372 | Paul Zacharia | 581 | Ullattil Achu |
| 164 | Ganesh K | 373 | Pia David | 582 | Umesh Chandola |
| 165 | Ganesh Kanade | 374 | PK Satish | 583 | Upendra Prasad singh |
| 166 | Gauhar Raza | 375 | PK Vijayan | 584 | Urmilesh |
| 167 | Gautam Bhatia | 376 | Poile Sengupta | 585 | Usha Rai |
| 168 | Gautam Navlakha | 377 | Poonam Batra | 586 | Uttam Jagirdar |
| 169 | Geeta Kapur | 378 | PR Dasgupta | 587 | V Alan Bosco |
| 170 | Geeta Seshu | 379 | Prabhat Patnaik | 588 | Vaasanthi |
| 171 | Geeta Sethi | 380 | Prabhir Vishnu Poruthiyil | 589 | Valay Singh |
| 172 | Geetanjali Shree | 381 | Prabir Purkayastha | 590 | Vamsi |
| 173 | Ghanshyam Shah | 382 | Pradeep Deb | 591 | Vani Subramanian |
| 174 | Ghouse | 383 | Pradeep Kakkar | 592 | Vanisha Tyagi |
| 175 | Girdhar Rathi | 384 | Pralhad Yadav Thakare | 593 | Vappala Balachandran |
| 176 | Gita Narayanan | 385 | Pramod Ranjan | 594 | Vasudev |
| 177 | Githa Hariharan | 386 | Prashastika | 595 | Vasundhara Chauhan |
| 178 | GN Devy | 387 | Pratik Sarode | 596 | Velcheru Narayana Rao |
| 179 | Gopal Agarwal | 388 | Pratishtha Pandya | 597 | Venugopal Rao |
| 180 | Gopal Menon | 389 | Prava Rai | 598 | Vibha Maurya |
| 181 | Gopal Nath | 390 | Praveer Peter | 599 | Vibha Puri Das |
| 182 | Gopalan Balagopal | 391 | Prem Chandavarkar | 600 | Vibha Tyagi |
| 183 | Gopalji Pradhan | 392 | Priya Sarukkai Chabria | 601 | Vidya Das Arora |
| 184 | Gopinath Ravindran | 393 | Priyanka K | 602 | Vidya Dengle |
| 185 | Govind Bali | 394 | PSS Thomas | 603 | Vidya Kamat |
| 186 | Govind Ram | 395 | Purushottam Agrawal | 604 | Vidyun Sabhaney |
| 187 | Govindaraj | 396 | Pushpamala N | 605 | Vijay Prashad |
| 188 | Govindarajsetty | 397 | Qaiser Shamim | 606 | Vijaya Venkataraman |
| 189 | Gurjit Singh Cheema | 398 | R Mahalakshmi | 607 | Vijayaraghavan S |
| 190 | Gurpreet Sidhu | 399 | Rabindra J Vasavada | 608 | Vikram Iyengar |
| 191 | Gyan Prakash | 400 | Radha Kumar | 609 | Vikram Soni |
| 192 | H Pattabhirama Somayaji | 401 | Radhavallabh Tripathi | 610 | Vimala KS |
| 193 | Habib Khan | 402 | Radhika Menon | 611 | Vineet Gill |
| 194 | Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar | 403 | Rahman Abbas | 612 | Vineetabh Kumar |
| 195 | Hany Babu | 404 | Rahul Khullar | 613 | Vishnu Nagar |
| 196 | Harbans Mukhia | 405 | Rajan Joseph Barrett | 614 | Vishnu Prabhakar |
| 197 | Harish K Puri | 406 | Rajarshi Dasgupta | 615 | Vivan Sundaram |
| 198 | Harsh Mander | 407 | Rajashri Dasgupta | 616 | Vivek Monteiro |
| 199 | Hindal Haidar Tyabji | 408 | Rajat Datta | 617 | Wajahat Habibullah |
| 200 | Hiralal Rajasthani | 409 | Rajendra Chenni | 618 | Wargis Salamat |
| 201 | Hugh Vas | 410 | Rajesh Umadevi Srinivas | 619 | Yogendra Yadav |
| 202 | Humayun Sait | 411 | Rajiv Gupta | 620 | Yogesh Maitreya |
| 203 | Husain MG | 412 | Rajiv Velicheti | 621 | Yousuf Saeed |
| 204 | Iffat Ahmadi | 413 | Rajneesh Sahil | 622 | Zafar Agha |
| 205 | Indrani Mukherjee | 414 | Rajni George | 623 | Zarine Bath |
| 206 | Indrapramit Roy | 415 | Raju Sharma | 624 | Zasha Colah |
| 207 | Inshada | 416 | Rakesh | 625 | Zoya Hasan |
| 208 | Irfan Ahmad Shah | 417 | Rakesh Kumar | ||
| 209 | J Devika | 418 | Rakhi Basu |
