NEW DELHI— Justice (retd) A K Ganguly has said that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) passed by the BJP government in 2019 is flawed and goes against the fundamental tenets of the Constitution.
Justice Ganguly made his comments while speaking at a webinar organized by the Forum for Democracy and Communal Amity (FDCA) on “Equality, Non-Discrimination, and Citizenship in Indian Constitution”.
“In the Constitution, you will not find even a whisper of basing citizenship on religion,” he pointed, adding, “It cannot be as it would go against the ethos of the Constitution.”
“And no discrimination can be done with regards to citizenship based on religion,” he categorically stated.
“The only grounds shall be the certain stipulations related to domicile,” he elaborated.
Pointing out that “the CAA defies Article 6 of the Constitution,” Justice Ganguly said, “Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution allow the Parliament to frame laws on citizenship, but those laws cannot be against the Constitution.”
“Thus, the CAA 2019 is flawed,” he said.
“The CAA goes against the fundamental tenets of the Constitution. It uses the same tools as colonial powers to divide the country. The Constitution has its morality. It is not just the letters and words,” Justice Ganguly explained.
Former foreign secretary and FDCA chairman Muchkund Dubey, in his presidential address, said that CAA was highly discriminatory.
“Citizenship is based on the principle of equality and loses its meaning without it. CAA is discriminatory. It goes against international law,” he pointed out.
“There is a well-established ‘Principle of non-refoulment under which no one can be returned to a country where they would face torture, degrading treatment, etc.,” Mr. Dubey informed.
“In a situation as it prevails in our country now, the judiciary is the last hope of people. Judiciary, however, needs to do more to protect our Constitution,” he stated.
FDCA secretary Prof Muhammad Salim Engineer thanked Justice Ganguly and other speakers in his concluding remarks.
Prof. Salim said, “four main values of our Constitution, namely, freedom, liberty, justice, and fraternity, are all being threatened. Yet, our nation is standing on these foundations.”
“In the context of equality, we observe that equal opportunity for employment, education, and political participation is lacking. Similarly, our justice system is skewed in favor of the rich and powerful. Our keynote speaker has asserted that the CAA is anti-constitutional and against the spirit of our Constitution, which does not discriminate based on religion, both among its citizens or while granting new citizenship. We all are equal citizens of this country as guaranteed by the Constitution,” Prof. Salim pointed out.
