On Citizenship

by Romila Thapar, N. Ram, Gautam Bhatia

The essays in this volume give the reader a proper understanding of what Indian citizenship means, the threats to it, and what each citizen of this country needs to do, in the words of N. Ram, ‘to reflect on and reset perspectives on what secular, democratic, rights-bearing citizenship means in the contemporary world and what needs to be done to find a way back to the core values of the Indian republic as set out in the preamble to the constitution—justice, liberty, equality, and fraternity’. In On Citizenship, four of India’s finest public intellectuals go deep into key aspects of what constitutes citizenship in India, an issue that has lately been the subject of furious public debate, as a result of controversial decisions by the government in power. In the lead essay in this volume, ‘The Right to be a Citizen’, the historian Romila Thapar explores how citizenship evolved in India and the rest of the world. In addition, she examines the rights of citizens and analyses the state’s duties towards its citizens. In his essay, ‘The Evolving Politics of Citizenship in Republican India’, the editor and political commentator N. Ram provides a cogent and succinct political history of citizenship in the sovereign, secular, democratic republic of India. In ‘Citizenship and the Constitution’, the legal scholar and writer Gautam Bhatia explores constitutional provisions relating to citizenship. He shows how Part II of the Constitution ‘articulates a vision of Indian citizenship that is interwoven with the Indian constitutional identity as a whole: secular, egalitarian, and non-discriminatory’. The essay by the jurist Gautam Patel, ‘Past Imperfect, Future Tense’, looks at, among other things, the organization of key provisions of the Constitution, and how they relate to citizenship, with an emphasis on the relationship between citizenship and fundamental rights. Taken together, the essays in On Citizenship provide the reader with clear, informed, compelling insights into the vexed issue of citizenship in India today.

Genres: India, Politics, Nonfiction, History

172 pages, Hardcover

Published January 10, 2021

About the author

Romila Thapar is an Indian historian and Professor Emeritus at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

A graduate from Panjab University, Dr. Thapar completed her PhD in the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

Her historical work portrays the origins of Hinduism as an evolving interplay between social forces. Her recent work on Somnath examines the evolution of the historiographies about the legendary Gujarat temple.

Thapar has been a visiting professor at Cornell University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the College de France in Paris. She was elected General President of the Indian History Congress in 1983 and a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 1999.

Reviews

[Deepan Maitra · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘On Citizenship’ is the voice of 4 eminent scholars of the country, whose work and views are perhaps one of the most factual and informed ones. In times like the present, where several new definitions of Nationalism are getting written, in times when citizens are bound to be lost and sliced based on the agencies that guide their citizenship, this book becomes necessary and urgent. Highly practical, extremely well-researched and verifying the need of the hour—this 4-essay collection by Aleph Book Company is pure gold.

Wading through this anthology, I immediately realized that if some individuals in the country can be called ‘Deshdrohi’, they almost always need to understand what is the foundation of the ‘desh’ (the nation) they’re talking about. ‘Andolaanjeevi’ or not that is probably a politically motivated and propaganda-stimulated argument, but why this ‘andolaan’ (protests) based on citizenship? This book is bound to make the readers realize the gravity of the word ‘citizenship’. It will eradicate any flimsy, frivolous instigated notions of fake citizenship put to question by some political figures in this country, and will put forward the actual, crude idea of citizenship as laid down in the constitution, and also the idea that has evolved over the course of centuries.

The lens that the authors have chosen to speak about the issues regarding citizenship, is the lens of accurate social and jurisdictional analysis, without blotching it with party-centric baseless claims. The neutrality here is charming and sharp, but since the essence of political opinions is that they can creep into the most unexpected of places, this essay also sometimes can make the readers aware of the lies they have been fed by political machinery, by both the ruling party and the oppositions.

‘On citizenship’ should be a must-read crash course on how citizenship has come to be what it is today. It should be a prerequisite to any discussion on the CAA, either against or for it. Opinions may clash, conclusions may distil down to various viewpoints—but all of this quite necessarily have to be preceded by knowing what this word ‘citizenship’ actually means. It is not difficult nowadays to find instances where protests are based upon weak foundations, and more than that, it is also not difficult to find instances where protesters are labelled to be harmful beings, leading to them getting trampled by the brute majority. Intelligent awareness of political and social issues is the need of the hour, before India’s population can voice an opinion on anything and everything under the sun. Backed judgments, justified reasonings give rise to healthy debates—instead of violent, dumb, imposed and agitated clashes.

Thanks To Aleph Book Company for this book.

[Mohit Dhanjani · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this book because of Gautam Bhatia, but ended up loving the essay contributed by Gautam Patel instead, even though his essay was a bit disconnected from the entire theme of this book. It focused more on rights than citizenship. But it was extremely insightful because of references to the US Supreme Court and UK Supreme Court.

Regardless, it is a quick, relevant and must read book.

[Makky Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

"On Citizenship" Four eminent personalities have contributed for this book.

Historian Romila Thapar, Political commentator and editor N.Ram, Legal scholar Gautam Bhatia and Eminent Jurist Gautam Patel

BACKGROUND ISSUE:

Current ruling government had made an amendment in the Constitution, that amendment related to qualification of citizenship. This amendment had created much controversy and fierce debate in public sphere, because this amendment was viewed as a discriminatory one and against the secular principle of the Constitution.

So case was filed against this amendment in Supreme Court. The matter is subjudice now.

If you would like to watch this review as video you can click this You Tube link, otherwise please go on..
https://youtu.be/6EdSKedOrqM

CONTENT OF THE BOOK...

On background of this, these four eminent personalities have discussed the concept of citizenship and issues related to Citizenship Amendment Act.

First Essay, this was contributed by historian Romila Thapar.
In this essay, Romila Thapar talked about citizenship and its historical evolution, because in earlier times citizenship is only related to elites, lower strata of the society cannot think about citizenship.
But over a period of time, the lower strata of the society had acquired the rights related to citizenship. They have transformed from serf to subjects then to citizen. How this evolution happened. This was beautifully explained by historian Romila Thapar in this essay.


Second Essay, this was contributed by N.Ram.

In this essay, he talked about political history of citizenship in Independent India and its various phases. He also talked about their danger lies behind the Trinity that is NPR-NRC-CAA
He also pointed out the identity politics of BJP and their view of citizenship in the larger context of Hindutva ideology.

This was discussed by N.Ram, in this essay.



Third Essay, this was contributed by Gautam Bhatia.

In this essay, he talked about the constitutional provision related to citizenship, especially Article ,
because Article gives a "Plenary Power" to the Parliament to enact law related to citizenship. At the same time, Article says any law passed by the Parliament have to confirm with fundamental rights.

So Article doesn't give any exception to Article . So he tried to convey this point. Citizenship rules have to comply with fundamental rights parts of the Constitution.

But what Gautham Bhatia stressed in this essay is we have to view the citizenship in the larger context of constitutional identity that is "Secular, Egalitarian and Non-discriminatory"

Fourth Essay, this was contributed by Gautham Patel.

In this essay, he emphasized the relationship between fundamental rights and citizenship, because most of the provisions in the fundamental rights it's associated only with the citizenship. He cites two articles, Article and Article that says persons cannot be discriminated based on religion, so citizenship qualification cannot be based on religion. This is the point he tried to convey. To support his theory, he cites various judicial decisions.

These are the four essays that was discussed in this book.

KEY TAKEAWAYS...

In this book, the four eminent personalities have stressed the importance to protect the fundamental attributes of citizenship that was envisioned by the country's founder and guranteed by the Constitution.

By reading this book you will get to know about:

The concept of citizenship and its historical evolution.

Political history of citizenship in independent India.

The Trinity of NPR-NRC-CAA

and the issue related to Citizenship Amendment Act .


So this is a must read book, to know about the "Citizenship" and issues related to the "Citizenship Amendment Act "

Thank you.

[Md Akhlaq · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝗢𝗡 𝗖𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗭𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣

ROMILA THAPAR
N. RAM
GAUTAM BHATIA
GAUTAM PATEL

Published by: @alephbookco

✍ The Constitution does not lay down a permanent or comprehensive provision relating to citizenship in India. Part II of the Constitution simply describes classes of persons who would be deemed to be the citizens of India at the commencement of the Constitution, the 26th January 1950, and leaves the entire law of citizenship to be regulated by law made by Parliament. Article 11 expressly confers power on Parliament to make laws to provide for such matters. In exercise of its power, the Parliament has enacted the Indian Citizenship Act, 1955. This Act provides for the acquisition and termination of citizenship after the commencement of the Constitution.

✍ In India, the debate and discussion on citizenship have become brisker since the current government took some undue decisions like the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 and the National Register of Citizens. The country has witnessed widespread protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), especially in combination with the proposed all-India National Register of Citizens (NRC). Indians are debating what the combination means for various sections, and discussing why Muslims, in particular, are worried.

✍ On Citizenship is a collection of four essays authored by a historian (Romila Thapar); a journalist (N. Ram); an advocate and scholar (Gautam Bhatia) and a judge (Justice Gautam Patel).

✍ As the pandemic knocked out, CAA was out of the debate and hence were lost to sight from public discourse. On Citizenship, strives to bring it back in the discussion in a very subtle and credible way.

✍ In the opening and lead essay in this volume, ‘The Right to be a Citizen’, the historian Romila Thapar examines how citizenship matured in India and the rest of the world. Not only rights but she also explained the obligations and duties.

✍ In ‘Citizenship and the Constitution, the legal scholar and writer Gautam Bhatia explores constitutional provisions relating to citizenship.

.... Continued in the comment...

[Suraj Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

On Citizenship is a short book, comprising of four essays, on the very important and the very relevant concept of citizenship. The four contributors include Romila Thapar, N. Ram, Gautam Bhatia and Gautam Patel. Put together, the four essays in this book approach the idea of citizenship from different directions, provide a general overview of the concept and then map it in the current debate surrounding the CAA (Citizenship Amendemnt Act). While the essays pertain specifically to the Indian context, the book as a whole serves to provide an account of the matter that citizenship is composed of and thereby reminds the readers to claim their rights as citizens.

Romila Thapar’s essay is introductory in nature and presents an account of the evolution of the concept of citizenship and the rights that one has as a citizen. Contrary to the usual, Thapar’s writing is quite lucid and therefore I found this essay quite engaging. N. Ram looks at the history of citizenship in the Indian context and the politics of citizenship with special reference to the BJP and its political agendas. Gautam Bhatia teases out the idea of citizenship in India by citing the debates of the constituent assembly. My favourite one from the book, Bhatia’s essay shows how the CAA is at odds with the constitutional values on which the whole edifice of Indian citizenship stands. The last essay addresses an important question pertaining to the fundamental rights and the citizenship rights. Are the two the same? Or does one take precedence over the other? to this end, Gautam Patel brings in several instances where the state has been responsible for the infringement of the fundamental rights of the citizens.

The CAA is at the centre, or in the background, of all the essays. While the protesting voices against the implementation of the CAA have been muffled by the havoc wreaked by the pandemic, the fire is still alive. And it is in this sense, that this book is very important because it provides an opportunity, for everyone sitting at home, to develop a better understanding of the hullaballo surrounding the controversial CAA and plunge into the debate. There can never be a better time to read this book. Highly recommended.

My Rating: **** (4/5)

[Diyuk Bora · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We look back in anger. We look forward in trepidation. For we have faltered before. We cannot afford another misstep. At stake is something so vital, so fundamental, so taken for granted that we risk missing it altogether: the idea of India. Sooner or later, our courts and we must face the most terrible judgment of all - the judgment of history. We should not be found wanting."
These essays offer an intellectually stimulating exploration of citizenship and the political dynamics surrounding it in contemporary times. They serve as a reminder to the nation of the significance and core values of our constitution. The government is distinct from the state, and the actions of the legislature must be scrutinized to ensure the functioning of a healthy democracy.

[Nivan Bagchi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The anthology of essays on Citizenship was uneven at best. While Gautam Bhatia's essay mostly hit the right notes, Gautam Patel's essay was the most interesting but only fleetingly connected to the topic of Citizenship.

The other two essays by Romila Thapar and N. Ram focusing on history and politics of citizenship respectively, were largely skippable. It's a shame because I had also read the spiritual predecessor of this book: "Nationalism" and in there Thapar's essay was the only bright spot.