It has been three years since Hindu migrants from Bangladesh and Burma celebrated the passage of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), many hoping to get citizenship rights in India. The community remains disappointed now, as the stage is set for Karnataka to vote in the Assembly elections on May 10, but a number of possible first-time voters remain outside the electoral rolls.
Community leaders estimate that about 3,000 youngsters, who became eligible to exercise their franchise in the last three years, have failed to get into the electoral rolls from the four Bangla and one Burmese camps in Sindhanur taluk in Raichur district, some 450 km from Bengaluru due to existing laws.
Greater vigilance now
“Earlier we did not have any problems getting government documents such as Aadhaar, caste and income certificates. Obtaining voter ID was possible with citizenship certificate of one of the parents,” community leader Prosen Raptan told The Hindu. He, however, claimed that problems intensified after CAA, as officials started insisting on citizenship certificates of both parents, and the rules for providing citizenship under the CAA that could provide clarity is yet to be formed.
These camps came up in the early 70s for Bangaldeshi Hindus, who were escaping persecution before the 1971 Indo-Pak war, and the Burmese Hindus, who left Burma as refugees. The government gave land as part of rehabilitation. Most of these families have come from Khulna, Jessore, Dhaka and Rampura districts in Bangladesh. While the five camps together have over 10,000 voters, that could be a deciding factor in the Sindhanur Assembly constituency, the new voter enrolment of the third generation youngsters has hit a roadblock.
A hitch to the passage of youngsters into the electoral rolls has been the citizenship documents. While about 5,000 members of 932 families that were rehabilitated by the Union government received citizenship, members of about 250 to 300 families that followed to the camp later have not got them. The population in these camps have now swollen to over 25,000.
“Over the last 40 to 50 years, families with citizenship have established marital ties with those without citizenship. Now, with officers asking for citizenship certificates of both parents, the youngsters are not getting the voting rights,” Mr. Raptan explained. “We have brought to the notice of political parties and higher officials alike but the situation has not improved.”
Cut-off dates crucial
Admitting to the problem, Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer of Raichur Chandrashekar Nayak pointed out specific cut-off dates to determine the immigrants arrival in the country and documents required for citizenship. “They have arrived in different periods. Those who are born after 1992 have to show documents of any one of their parents since it is understood that their parents arrived in 1971. But those who are born after 2002 will have to produce documents of both the parents to establish the citizenship of the parents.” He said that disputes and grievances cropped up during four to five hearings conducted before the final electoral roll was published.
Mr. Nayak, who said the number of such cases could be far less than 3,000, added, “Assistant Commissioners and tahsildars, who have judicial powers, scrutinised the applications and documents for inclusion of new names from these camps. The documents were also cross checked with alternative sources before a final decision was taken.”
