New Delhi: Passport has never been a citizenship proof and no new decision was taken on the document by the Modi government in the last 12 years, government sources said Thursday.
On media reports on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) clarifying that a passport is a travel document and not a proof of citizenship, the sources said it was not decided yesterday that passport is not a proof of citizenship.
According to the Passport Act 1967, passports can be given to non-citizens too, the sources said.
“It was not decided yesterday that the passport is not a proof of citizenship. It was not even decided in the last 12 years. The passport has never been a proof of citizenship,” a source said.
The media reports, quoting MEA officials, said that a passport is a travel document, not a proof of citizenship. It is not a document that establishes citizenship.
TMC leader Mahua Moitra took a dig on the government over the issue.
“It would seem that the only proof of Indian citizenship today is to be both Hindu and a BJP voter. Nothing else will do,” she said on X.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal also hit out at the government over the matter.
“Which document then is proof of citizenship? BLO can doubt my citizenship Deprive me of my vote. Result BJP wins the election. Over to Supreme Court !” he said on X.
Lyricist Javed Akhtar termed the MEA clarification “absurd”
“The ministry of External Affairs says that a passport is a document travel not the proof of citizenship. Really ??? . So are they providing this travel document to some people without being totally convinced that this person is an Indian citizen ?? . It is absurd,” he said on X.
Official sources suggested that the judgments of the Bombay High Court in 2013 have made it clear that passport is not proof of citizenship.
During the hearing on the Election Commission conducted Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the Supreme Court had observed that Aadhaar was not conclusive proof of citizenship, just a document of identity.
On December 20, 2019, the government of India’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) issued a comprehensive explainer via a set of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
It said, “Citizenship can be proved by submitting any documents related to date of birth and place of birth. However, a decision is yet to be taken on such acceptable documents”.
The PIB also said in the FAQs that citizenship of any person is decided on the basis of The Citizenship Rules, 2009.These rules are based on the Citizenship Act, 1955.
It said five ways for any person to become a citizen of India was citizenship by birth, citizenship by descent, citizenship by registration, citizenship by naturalisation and citizenship by incorporation.
