The erstwhile Bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha on 19 July 2016.

It aims to make illegal migrants – who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan – eligible for citizenship, on the basis of religion. It offer citizenship to these six identified non-Muslim minorities who reportedly fled from India’s neighbouring countries due to ‘religious persecution’.

This aims to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, which did not allow citizenship to any kind of illegal migrants. The Act seems to be a follow up of the promise made by the BJP in 2014, to grant citizenship to Hindus persecuted in the neighbouring countries. In the BJP manifesto for the 2014 elections, the party had promised to welcome Hindu refugees and provide shelter to them.

It also relaxes the Act’s requirement of an applicant securing citizenship by naturalisation, where for people belonging to the same six religions and three countries, it relaxes the 11-year requirement for the applicant to reside in India to six years.

It also states that the registration of the Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card-holders can be cancelled if they “violate any law”. The OCI is an immigration status which allows a foreign citizen of Indian origin to live and work in India, indefinitely. The Act, however, will only take into account the grant of citizenship to those who migrated to India before 31 December, 2014.

In many ways, the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 aims to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, which has specific provisions listing out who can be considered eligible for citizenship.