# Citizenship Amendment Act receives presidential assent

Date: 2019

## The fact

On 12 December 2019 the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 received presidential assent after Parliament passed it, creating a fast path to citizenship for selected non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan who entered by 31 December 2014.

## Context

[Amit Shah](/people/amit-shah) piloted the bill. Nationwide protests followed. The Act does not, by its text, strip any existing Indian citizen of citizenship. It does introduce a religion-linked preference. [Modi](/people/narendra-modi) is the prime minister of the government that enacted it. He did not sit as every state police officer at a protest.

The 11 March 2024 rules are a neighbouring later implementation instrument. NRC in Assam is a neighbouring different process.

The Prime Minister of India is head of the Union Council of Ministers. Parliament writes statutes; the President assents; states and Union ministries implement; the Supreme Court can strike a scheme down. A prime minister can announce demonetisation, drive a bill, and take an oath. He does not write a UNFCCC depositary record, an ISRO telemetry file, or a Supreme Court judgment by himself.

## Evidence and sources

Government of India carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is [protection of minority rights](/drivers/protection-of-minority-rights): a completed religion-linked citizenship preference is a dated equal-protection cost for Muslim applicants from the same countries.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a 12 December 2019 presidential assent to the Citizenship Amendment Act creating a religion-linked fast path for named groups.

Not established: that any existing Indian Muslim was stripped of citizenship by this Act, or a unique later riot coefficient from assent day.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Parliament passed it. The President assented. States still implement.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Citizenship Amendment Act receives presidential assent on 2019-12-12 is not a licence to treat every later Government of India communique as this same act. This dossier refuses to average Citizenship Amendment Act receives presidential assent into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to His government piloted the bill. Parliament passed it. The President assented. States still implement. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series. The Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, the President, the Reserve Bank, state governments, the Election Commission, and foreign counterparties share specific files. Allegation is not a completed judgment. A Supreme Court striking-down is not a criminal conviction. A scheme notification is not a unique rupee coefficient. A UN pledge is not a delivered emissions path.

## People

- Narendra Modi: https://factrail.ai/people/narendra-modi

## Drivers

- Protection of Minority Rights: https://factrail.ai/drivers/protection-of-minority-rights
- Migration-policy restrictiveness and border control: https://factrail.ai/drivers/mig-policy-restrictiveness

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-citizenship-idUSKBN1YG21W
- https://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/15339

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/in-caa-2019