Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai in the Rajya Sabha during the Budget session of Parliament, in New Delhi, on April 2, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday (April 2, 2025) that “thousands were granted citizenship” under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, after Trinamool Congress member Sushmita Dev stated that merely 350 people had received citizenship under the Act. Mr. Rai did not specify the number.
The Act was passed in 2019 but the Rules were notified on March 11, 2024 paving the way for its implementation. The government had neither shared or publicised data on CAA citizenships so far.
The Minister was replying to a debate on the Immigration and Foreigners Bill, 2025 which was passed by the Lok Sabha last week. The Bill was passed by a voice vote in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday even as several Opposition members demanded that it be sent to a select committee for scrutiny as it did not face any appeal process.
Mr. Rai said the government had deported 36,000 “infiltrators” so far. He added the Bill was not against foreigners and only sought to track their movement and create a database on their entry, exit and stay.
Congress’s Abhishek Manu Singhvi said the Bill was “designed for ulterior motives by a control-freak government, bent on sending out a message of fear through the architecture of omniscient, Orwellian surveillance for foreigners”.
Also read | New Immigration Bill proposes seven-year jail term for using forged passport
Mr. Singhvi said though the Bill was aimed at foreigners and targeted them as “suspicious,” similar laws could be brought in for Indians in the future, turning them into accused without any crime being committed.
Sandosh Kumar P. of the Communist Party of India said there was a need to differentiate between foreigners and illegal migrants. “India has always welcomed foreigners. Immigration officers will become omnipotent. These people want to tarnish the image of the country. This Bill should be sent to the select committee,” the MP said.
Aam Aadmi Party member Sanjay Singh questioned the role of the Border Security Force (BSF) in stopping illegal migration from the Bangladesh border.
“I think the MHA [Ministry of Home Affairs] is watching Superman movies… 50 km jurisdiction [along Bangladesh border] is under the BSF. They want to say that a Bangladeshi flies 50 km and reaches [West Bengal Chief Minister] Mamata Banerjee’s doorstep to get an Aadhaar card. What was the BSF doing? Is that Bangladeshi a Superman?” he said, referring to Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in Lok Sabha on March 27 that Bangladesh nationals acquire Aadhaar and voter identity cards from a particular district in West Bengal and reach Delhi posing as Indians.
Mr. Singh said he did not need a certificate on nationalism from the government and despite being a member of the House his passports remained seized. The government should instead seize the passports of all those who had defaulted in bank loans of more than ₹50 crore, he said.
V. Sivadasan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said foreign academics were sent back from airports and there was lack of clarity on the kind of threat to national security the Bill referred to.
According to the Bill, anyone found to be using a forged passport or visa for entering India or staying in or exiting from the country will be punishable with a jail term of up to seven years and a fine to the extent of ₹10 lakh.
The proposed legislation also provides for mandatory reporting of information about foreigners by hotels, universities, other educational institutions, hospitals and nursing homes to enable tracking of overstaying foreigners.
Matters relating to foreigners and immigration are presently administered through four legislations: Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920; the Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939; the Foreigners Act, 1946; and the Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act, 2000. All these laws are proposed to be repealed.
Published – April 02, 2025 08:30 pm IST