 Since the topic is saying talking about who is an Indian citizen. I have been writing on an RC and then I made a video on this in My YouTube series called legal awareness web series who is an Indian citizen Believe me every day. I Receive about hundred emails and it is not that most of these males are coming from Muslims I receive mails from many many non-muslims who are saying that in Our high school certificate. The spelling is this but in our passport the spelling is this Will we be included if national and RC is undertaken or not a state For five years is doing nothing except searching documents and And if the whole nation Starts doing this document search to prove their existence Then you know where our GDP is going to be We are already about five percent the realistic estimate is that it is probably three point five It will become maybe one point five or two point five. I don't want to take you to concepts of citizenship But there are narrower concepts of citizenship and There are broader and liberal concepts of citizenship So our constitution adopted the broader concept. We said anyone who is born on our soil will be our citizen US also has a similar thing many of us many of you will be the beneficiaries when you go there and the children will Be born there and if Trump is not there Then they will get citizenship But this whole idea of citizenship is an idea of exclusion. It is not an idea of inclusion Citizenship is an idea where we say you are the other so I define myself with reference to some other and Then I say get lost You will not get this you will not get this The problem with our country is and in both the cases I am going to demonstrate to you Facts have become irrelevant. How much media has contributed to it? How much political parties have contributed to it? How much we as citizens by listening to nonsense have contributed to it? I Really don't know but it has really become so difficult To talk of plain naked facts we were told That there are 40,000,000 Bangladeshi foreigners illegal immigrants 80,000,000 Somebody said one carol another person said 1.2 Yet another minister union minister said two carols at the end of the day When on 31st of August you got this final NRC We are told 19 lakhs people are not there Out of these 19 legs About four lakh people are having their refugee certificate We didn't take them into account So they will definitely be included now So for four lakhs 4.5 other Another four lakhs are those who did not apply for NRC. That means they're dead Then you have a huge majority of Assam's indigenous people Bengali Hindus are in big majority around sick clacks or so You have people who are neither speaking Bengali nor speaking Assamese Who have been excluded probably Biharis and UP Wallahs and other states people who are there So my rough estimate is That at the end when all these foreign tribunals with whatever you know Process they call it judicial process. I called that they are like kangaroo coats With the no-do process In fact, they are contracts to continue as members of the foreign tribunals Depend on how many people they have excluded So there is a performance sheet which was submitted even to Guwahati High Court We said oh X the number of people he declared as foreigners is Y and this is below the Expected level so his contract is not to be renewed and there are people Members of the foreigners tribunal who declare a lot of people as non-Indians Their contracts are to be renewed all these people who are members of These foreigners tribunals Which were supposed to be the quasi judicial bodies many of them are civil servants retired civil servants Many of them are lawyers The original idea of the foreigners act now foreigners act is not Independent India's law. It is a 1946 colonial law This law deals with people who are foreigners Not with citizens. You do not have any concept of tribunal under the citizenship act Now when you are an independent Independent country with a constitutional democracy with liberalism You can't be dealing with people whose Citizenship could not be proved just because there is some discrepancy in a document and With what state we are dealing There are people who had faced devastating floods four times five times in their life the entire record has been swept away in the Floods and we are asking them to bring the record Women are the worst victims Because child marriages are still rampant in Assam Their name could not come in their parents Village's voter list because they were not 21 This 18 voting age will come when Rajiv Gandhi became the prime minister. So that is a recent thing So since they were married when they were not 21 Or now when they are still married when they are not 18 This record is not there In the village where they are married and they are the worst victims I feel that NRC is a self-inflicted wound. It is a Something worse than the partition If 20th century has seen a man-made disaster On Indian subcontinent because we thought nations are made in the name of religion and created artificial boundaries Which proved to be futile because within 25 years or so Bangladesh was created Even though all these Bengalis were Muslims, but they said that we are a different nation in a constitutional democracy yet again We have Created a man-made disaster where we are asking our own people to prove their citizenship and We did this propaganda in such a systematic way That the highest court of the country got carried away and the highest court of the country is Started behaving as government rather than judiciary So which document will be accepted which will not be accepted Ideally it should be the function of the executive So print court itself is deciding so certificates issued by village head will not be accepted If a village head has issued a certificate That village head has to come and testify Many a times people have received Notices from the foreigners tribunals 24 hours notice 48 hours notice and they are asked to appear 400 kilometers away from their village These are poor people they don't have means and The entire village receives the notice so many people have committed suicide In Bengal itself Where there is mere apprehension That an NRC will be implemented 11 people so far have committed suicide And when we talk of deportation How many people are going to be deported In last six years we have deported only five people to Bangladesh I was reading news It seems that the Bangladeshi prime minister Raised up this issue with our honorable prime minister in New York Of course there is no official statement from India But there is a statement from Bangladeshi foreign ministry Where it seems our prime minister has said don't worry We are not going to send back these people to you Our minister is on record Rajnath Singh Saying we are not sending back anybody Our foreign minister is on record During his visit to Dhaka An RC is an internal matter If it is an internal matter If we are not going to send these people away from India Why spend about 1500 crores on this exercise The narrative accepted by the court Was this that these people are in such big numbers They are influencing our democratic process They are a burden on our resources Even if I take entire 19 lakhs who have been excluded This is less than 4% of your population of Assam Can 4% people be such a threat To our culture or democratic process That they can adversely affect election results And once we found out that the results are not to our liking Look at the statement of the minister Chief minister himself Sonowal Who went to the supreme court twice on this issue Look at the statement of Himanta Biswas On the day an RC finalist was released When we realized that the reality is different From what we had been convincing people all these years We said no no we are going to give them legal aid Just because somebody's name is not in an RC That doesn't mean he is not our citizen In 1997 One fine morning Election commissioner TN session was there Very powerful election commissioner Did number of good things for our elections But one thing which was done in Assam Was without any inquiry Some low level officer Just in front of certain names he said Doubtful doubtful doubtful doubtful These people became what is now known as devoters Doubtful voters Their names have not been included In 2001 or 2003 like more people were added to this list Their descendants have also not been included So you have roughly 4-5 lakh people Who are sons and daughters of these devoters Who are our citizens Who will be eventually included You have out of 19 lakhs 2 lakh children Then names of both their parents are in the analysis Children's names are not there There are people who have a record of their property dating back to 1924 And their names are not there People who have served in our army and their names are not there Because the whole process itself was faulty We are overemphasizing 1951 An RC Which was a kind of a census Which was done in few days Without any notice We are saying that your Some relatives name should be there in what they call Legacy document Which should be some 1971 document 1966 voter list Some bank account I think we need to thank our Prime Minister That because of his initiative Now many of us have bank accounts But poor people in 66, 71 did not have bank accounts What percentage of people had bank accounts at that point of time Then you will have some family tree And then you need some legacy document And then connection from this document is to be made to a legacy document Then only your name will be included There are lakhs of people Whose name is there In the legacy document I was looking at a case of one person Whose father's name was there In the 1966 voter list His age was written 1966 His age is written 30 years I think in 1951 the age is written 30 years In 1966 voter list And of course no citizen has a right to make a voter list Voter list is made by government officials And it is not made by senior government officials It is made by lower level officers Of course under the overall supervision of senior officers This man's age is written 95 1966 The age should have been written 45 But it is written 95 He is arguing but it is a clerical mistake But the name was excluded Because his father was not accepted as his father They said it is a projected father We have made an RC Under a law called section 6A Of the Citizenship Act The constitutionality of this law is under challenge A three judge bench of supreme court Has accepted That yes this is a substantive question of law Whether section 6A is constitutional or not And therefore frame not one and two Thirteen questions On the constitutionality of section 6A And referred it to a five judge constitution bench Bench had one hearing Then one judge from the bench got retired Superannuated The bench got dissolved Don't you think Before we tell people That you are not our citizen We should be Able to have in our hand A supreme court order Upholding the law under which We are denying people citizenship Our own supreme court doubts The constitutionality of section 6A If a three judge bench Does not doubt the constitutionality of section 6A How can it refer it to a five judge bench You have to first convince a three judge bench Only when three judge bench is convinced Then only matter goes to a larger bench What are the questions Interesting One of the question is State does not mean mayor territory Here state means state of Assam It also means people And their culture Since Bangladesh illegal immigrants Are coming to Assam There is a threat To state meaning people And culture And since central government Could not stop illegal infiltration Central government is in violation Of its duty and article 355 To protect states from external aggression Migration is a global phenomenon America even today has 11 million People who are supposedly illegal migrants From the times of Aryans Migration is a thing happening In film refugee you had that famous song All these boundaries Men have created This is not for birds Who can easily cross boundaries Is the same definition of state We are going to apply to Kashmir That it is not just the territory But also people and culture And if this is so How can you decide the bifurcation Without taking them on board Or will you have one definition Of a state for Assam And another definition for Kashmir There is one date for Assam Cut-off date 24th of March 1971 25th of March Bangladesh was born This you can't have one date in Assam And another date for other states As you know as we stand today The date for other state is 1st July 1987 So if you have two different laws Then that is unconstitutional The question is is it unconstitutional or not If court says it is unconstitutional Five judge bench Tomorrow decides it is unconstitutional Then entire exercise is to be redone Because the cut-off date changes The law is You can have one law What to say for one state One district What to say for one district One individual There can be a law against one individual Article 14 right to equality Forbids class legislation It does not prohibit classification If that one individual is a class in himself People who are similarly Circumstanced Will be governed by that one law We made one law called motor vehicle act Each state is coming up with Its own amendments The whole question was That under the 1983 This IMDT tribunals One law was passed to determine The question of citizenship Illegal migrants tribunals act This act in my opinion rightly said That the burden to prove That X is not our citizen Shall be on the state In entire criminal law This is how it is If you accuse that I committed rape You will prove it If you say I committed theft You will prove it If you say I committed murder You will prove it If you say this land is yours You will prove it Alleges must prove It is the global rule Unevidence Unless As I said That foreigners act 1946 pre-colonial If you arrested me When I was crossing the border Then you can say I should prove that I am Indian citizen I am coming back to my mother country If from my possession You got passport of some other country Then you can say Now you prove that you are an Indian citizen Though you are having a passport Of some other country But if someone is born in India The presumption is to be in favour Of that person And one who alleges that he is not the citizen Must prove that he is not the citizen Against this law And burden of proof The current chief minister Of Assam went to supreme court And supreme court Got carried away by that false narrative Of one billion infiltrators From Assam From Bangladesh in Assam Called these infiltrators as vultures And they stuck down this law Now there is a rule How law is stuck down If there is a law made by parliament The thumb rule is That the constitutionality of law Is to be presumed by the court One who Again alleges that law is not constitutional Must prove that it is not constitutional That burden was not discharged The other rule to look at the constitutionality Of a law made by parliament is Ask a simple question Is the matter on which parliament Has enacted law In the state list As you know there are three lists Union list on which only parliament Can make law And state list 66 items are there State list 66 items Where state can legislate And there are There is a third list Concurrent list on which both Center and state can legislate So if an item is in the state list Then parliament cannot legislate So your question should be Whether the Given item is in the state list If it is not there The first test is met Now you cannot hold that law as unconstitutional Unless a second test is there Whether the law Made by parliament Violates fundamental right You cannot strike down A law If parliament has jurisdiction To pass that law And that law does not violate Any fundamental right Supreme court did not follow this route And rather Imagined an external aggression And struck down Illegal migrant determination tribunal IMDT And that is the genesis of today's problem International law Clearly says You can arrest people Keep them in detention If they are foreigners Prior to their deportation So for three days Four days One month Maximum of three months You may keep them in detention centers When you have no plan of deporting them Can you keep people in detention For years together India is a signatory To international covenant On civil and political rights We are a signatory To international convention International human rights instruments They talk of right to nationality We are in violation of those conventions Because our court Stuck down a law Unnecessarily I believe That we should not be guided by false narratives Otherwise we will land up ourselves Up in this kind of situation After 1971 Experts on migration have been writing Large scale influx has not happened from Bangladesh Muslims have not been coming from there After creation of Bangladesh Hindus have been coming Because they feared persecution In last ten years Bangla economy is improving Do you know what number of Indians are there in Bangladesh About ten lakhs Our people are there Illegally living there Because Bangla economy is not doing Exceedingly well People who have taken birth on our soil Even if we talk to Bangladesh about deportation What record Bangladesh will have of those people Most of us We were not born in hospitals It is recent phenomena That people take birth in hospitals Poor people still don't go to hospitals for delivery Our record keeping is so poor And if at all We decide citizenship only on the basis of document I can tell you you have all kinds of judgments So somebody had a passport Issued by government of India And the court said No no no you are not our citizen So passport as a document was negative Somebody had a name in motor list And we said no no no this way we will not recall Somebody is having adhar And we said no no no this way we will not So what is the value of documents What is the value of documents Before I stop my discussion on NRC If we really believe In Akhand Bharat And consider that Bangladesh and Pakistan Are part of larger India I personally feel they are Because as I said that I don't believe nations Can be created in the name of religion And I consider that Pakistan and Bangladesh Were wrongly created Then at least listen to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Listen to at least Hindu right wing philosophers Who have written including Deen Dayal Upadhyaya That first we should develop good trade relationship And then have some kind of loose confederation If we believe again I am picking up From classical Indian Ancient civilizational values Vasudev Kutamukam The whole world is a family How can then At the end of this exercise You will have maybe 1.5 lakh, 2 lakh Bangladeshis You can't keep them And we are saying We will have an RC in Haryana We will have an RC in Bengal An RC in Uttarakhand What nonsense Government of India's own population record is saying I think table 11A or so That earlier People who are not our citizen their number was 0.6% Now it has gone down To 0.4% In last decade Less than 1% people What kind of threat they are Winning election Should be the motto of every political party And I don't mind it But should we be dividing people Causing such hardship to people Are we not human Don't we have any heart Just because there is Some spelling mistake here And some spelling mistake there We are denying people their citizenship Citizenship is a right to rights If you are a citizen then you have other rights It is the most crucial right This right we want to be determined through foreigners Tribunal 78% of their judgments Have been given ex-party You decided on my back My citizenship And we want to be Vishwagru I think at a time When United States is conceding that Space of higher morality India should have filled that space As a world leader As a civilizational leader But we are constructing Big detention centers in one state And in another state I think this is frightening One Hindu technocrat IT expert From Bangalore wrote to me I cried reading that email And I will stop with that email I don't have the Ability to sustain myself This boy Is writing to me That I am into IT My wife lives in Assam My parents died in some accident Somebody in neighborhood adopted me So I know only that family I don't know my biological family And unless you prove your Ligesi, Ligeti, Document, Biological link You can't be included in an RC I really don't know My family tree He has written to me That in last one year He wrote number of Facebook posts On Twitter I am so and so I am so and so Does anyone know me Somebody read that post And phoned him And he was able to locate Some distant uncle He has written to me Five times he travelled to Assam in last one year Through that uncle He was able to get Name Of his grandfather Whose name incidentally was there In 1951 an RC So the link was established But when fine an RC was published This person's name is not there Do you think he is concentrating On his work No Do you think it will not effect our GDP It would Even the Muslim issue It's a purely constitutional issue Human issue If you look at how laws Have been amended in last 50 years We started with this law Anyone born in India will be our citizen Due to rightist narrative We brought in a change We said no Only people Who were born in India If first of July 1987 Alone will be Indian citizen So now if you are born after 1987 in India You don't automatically become Indian citizen Even though your constitution said so And I was told in my LLB class That constitution is the supreme law of land Between 1987 to 2003 When we brought in another amendment We said you will be an Indian citizen If in addition of India One of your parent Was also Indian citizen So from Soil Birth We started looking at relationship Then again we amended our law And now we say That not only you should be born in India But either both of your parents Should be an Indian citizen Or one of them should be an Indian citizen And another should not be an illegal migrant Under what law You can control My right to marry anyone And if I married somebody Who was subsequently Because of some spelling mistake Is found to be an illegal migrant You want to deny citizenship to my children Because both their parents Will not anymore be Indian citizen Do you think when fascism will come It will have a drum in its hand And it would say Oh I am fascism I have come I am fascism I have come You have to see the signs You have to make your own judgment Constitution of India in article 51 Is imposing the fundamental duty on us To cherish the noble ideals Which inspired our freedom struggle Look at the Motilal Nehru committee report of 1928 Were we talking of this kind of narrow idea of citizenship Look at the crunchy resolution Look at citizenship provisions of our constitution Entire NRC exercise in my opinion Is constitutionally suspect And morally pervert I will stop here As to my discussion on NRC there is so much to talk about