Being Indian/Manipuri citizens

Free Thinker *

A prominent person once told me that the perfect example of an Indian-Manipuri citizen is a distinguished senior lawyer in Manipur High Court; he is more Manipuri than many other Manipuris. I am told that his forefathers came to Manipur before Independence/Merger. Though arrived in the State in the first half of the last century their commitment and loyalty to this land is beyond any reasonable doubt.

But those who came to Manipur in the last 40-50 years from the adjoining alien areas don’t believe in the idea of Manipur. The recent arrivals (post 2021) are more inimical to the idea of Manipur and they really instigate to balkanize the land.

Now, the Govt of India has made it very clear that a passport is not a proof for citizenship. Passport is simply a travel document. In India there is no single document which perfectly proves citizenship. We thought that a passport is the most authentic proof for citizenship.

But the recent clarification by the Ministry of External Affairs made it quite clear that a passport is also any other document to prove citizenship. Passport is issued because the Govt has enough evidence that a person is an Indian citizen.

These days Indian citizenship is normally proved with a combination of documents. They are namely, birth certificate, matriculation certifi- cate, citizenship certificate or naturalization certificate, legacy related proof , land record linked proof etc; whereas voter ID, Aadhar, PAN card , driving licence, etc are not strong documents to prove citizenship.

As far as a passport is concerned, it is a very solid document pertaining to citizenship. Though it is a travelling document it is no doubt a good proof for Indian citizenship.

The National Register of Citizens (NRC) was never rolled out Nation-wide in the country. But the idea of the NRC was to prove citizenship. This became contro- versial because of heavy politicization and communalization. The Citizenship Amendment Act indeed frightened the minorities rightly or wrongly.

The only large-scale implementation of NRC had taken place in Assam in between 2015 and 2019; where the applicants had to establish links to legacy records predating March 24, 1971. Nearly 20 lac people were removed from the citizenship list. Many of their documents carry spelling mistakes or inconsistencies in proving family lineage .

Constitutionally speaking Article 5 to 11 define Indian citizenship; and again the Citizenship Act 1955 further elaborately explains who is an Indian citizen. The uncertain part of Indian citizenship is that there is no single document as proof of citizenship.

In fact, Indian citizenship is treated as a legal status arising from the facts such as birth, parentage, domicile, or naturalization. For a person born in India, citizenship depends on when they were born and, in certain cases, the citizenship status of their parents. For naturalization it depends on compliance with statutory provisions.

Normally an Indian citizen is a person who was born in the territory of India; or either whose parents were born in the territory of India or who has been ordinarily resident in the territory of India for not less than five years immediately preceding such commencement shall be a citizen of India.

The Apex Court had already ruled "we would like to clarify that we have repeatedly passed orders that the list illustratively indicates 11 documents; only birth certificate and passport are crucial and other documents are no conclusive proof for citizenship." So passports and birth certificates are put in a higher evidentiary category than other documents.

There will be more interest in the expansion of citizenship by incorporating territories. Apart from citizenship by other means, citizenship by acquiring land sounds like Vikshit Bharat (already done in the case of Goa and Sikkim). Now also if Bangladesh or part of it are incorporated – people living in that area will automatically become Indian citizens. The same yardstick applies to POK.

At present Indian citizenship can be acquired by birth or by descent or registration or naturalization or incorporation of territory. Under the provision of incorporation of territory Chin State or the Kabaw valley may be integrated with the Indian Union (If India considers itself as an emerging super power); consequently, the residents of these areas will automatically become Indian citizens.

Again, on the contrary if any part of Manipur or Mizoram slips towards Myanmar or a new country – the population in these territories shall lose Indian citizenship.

In order to do away with the fluid situation in the Indo-Myanmar region and in the name of global peace the bewildered rebel leaders from bordering Myanmar may apply for Indian/Manipur citizenship, provided they believe in the idea of India and united Manipur. They will get an instant response.

There is an exception clause to the whole citizenship conundrum. If the Union Government thinks that the applicant has rendered extraordinary services in the field of world peace, love, art, literature, science, human progress, etc., all or any of the Constitutional or statutory conditions for becoming an Indian citizen may be exempted.

A waiver was perhaps given to Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa (naturalization), Adnan Sami etc. Such leniency may also be extended to others. In the interest of our senior citizens and young cockroaches Miss Meloni (Italian) and Hania Amir (Paki) may be granted instant citizenship.