archive: Birth rights
Birth rights
Pitamber J Singh
The Pioneer
July 8, 1999
Title: Birth rights
Author: Pitamber J Singh
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 8, 1999
The country is engulfed in a controversy regarding the rights and
privileges of the naturalised citizens vis-a-vis the natural born
citizens: the foremost question being whether a person who is a
naturalised citizen, and not a natural born, can occupy the top
positions in the country. Unfortunately, the issue is divided on party
lines and the debate is tending to be acrimonious. An issue which
needed to be discussed objectively and dispassionately on non-partisan
lines has become the victim of party politics.
To understand the issue in all its ramifications, it will be
appropriate to delve into the history of the Indian National Movement
and to go through the debates in the Constituent Assembly. Consequent
upon the promulgation of the Queen's Proclamation of 1858 and the
transfer of power from the East India Company to the British Crown,
the freedom movement suffered a temporary set-back to resurface
subsequently in a different form. The founding of the Indian National
Congress in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume was an important event in this
direction.
Hume's objective was to bring the enlightened elite of the country on
a single platform to educate the Indian people in socio-political
matters. In the course of the struggle, a number of foreigners like
George Yule, Sir William Wedderburn, Alfred Web, Sir Henry Cotton,
Annie Besant and CF Andrews, sympathetic to the Indian cause, also
joined the movement. The contribution of these great personalities was
significant yet selfless.
Hume was an outstanding ICS officer deeply committed to the cause of
the Indian people much to the chagrin of fellow bureaucrats. Despite
his outstanding contribution to the Indian cause and the respect he
commanded among the contemporary Indian luminaries, Hume wanted the
basic job of governance to be done by the Indians themselves. Annie
Besant got interested in Indian philosophy at an early age and moved
to India in 1893 for the study of the Vedas and other Hindu
scriptures. She headed the Theosophical Society of India and had VK
Krishna Menon and J Krishnamurthy among her pupils. She founded the
Central Hindu College in Benaras which later blossomed into the
Benaras Hindu University. She started the Home Rule Movement in 1916.
As INC president, she demanded self government for India by 1923 and
latest by 1928.
In recent times, some people have tried to compare Sonia Gandhi with
Annie Besant. The services rendered by Hume and Annie Besant were
marked by selflessness, dedication and total devotion to the Indian
cause and were qualitatively different. The Constituent Assembly which
drafted the Constitution of India consisted of eminent freedom
fighters who had waged a lifelong struggle to shake off the foreign
yoke. They knew what freedom meant and were determined to defend it at
any cost. The unity and integrity of the country was their primary
concern. This explains the centralised tendencies of the Constitution
as it was the weakening of the Central authority, or the absence
thereof, which had resulted in the loss of the country's independence
in the past.
Considering the strong nationalistic feelings which dominated the
1940s, they could never have envisioned a situation in which the
persons who were not the natural born citizens of the country, would
be projected for the top constitutional positions. They would have
presupposed that the conventions which had got entrenched in the other
advanced democracies of the world, would also take root in the Indian
political system.
In all the advanced countries of the world, a distinction has been
drawn between the natural born citizens, the naturalised citizens and
the aliens. Whereas, the natural born citizens enjoy all the political
and civil rights, the naturalised citizens are entitled to the civil
rights and only some of the political rights. The aliens are eligible
to only part of the civil rights and can claim no political rights. No
distinct line has been drawn between the two in India.
There was an influx of people from different parts of Europe to the
US, both before and after the American war of independence. The
framers of the US constitution took note of this and explicitly
disqualified the naturalised citizens from becoming the US president.
People from different parts of the world may migrate to a particular
country and seek its citizenship. Such people remain aliens till they
have been granted the status of "citizens". On acquiring citizenship,
they become the naturalised citizens of the country of adoption but
their children who may be born subsequently become the natural born
citizens.
Whereas naturalised citizens do not qualify to become presidents,
vice-presidents, prime ministers and other such top constitutional
posts, the natural born citizens qualify for all such positions. A
person might have migrated to a country in infancy and might have been
brought up in the country of adoption but he/she is also debarred from
occupying top constitutional positions. Madeleine Albright of the US
is one such example. Despite all the competence and political skills
she has, she cannot aspire to become the US president.
A person occupying a top constitutional position is repository of
sensitive information and is often required to take hard decisions
having far-reaching consequences. In such a situation, a naturalised
citizen, may either be too cautious to the extent of being indecisive,
leading to inordinate delays on vital matters, or succumb to outside
pressures. Both can be suicidal for the nation. That is why top
constitutional positions are kept outside the purview of naturalised
citizens in most countries.
It is for similar reasons that persons belonging to the Indian Foreign
Service and Group 'A' Series, likely to occupy top slots, are not
permitted to marry foreigners except with the permission of the
Government of India. That such a decision was taken by Jawaharlal
Nehru and his Government after Independence reinforces the argument
that the Constituent Assembly had no intention of treating naturalised
citizens at par with the natural born citizens.
These are policy decisions, the significance of which cannot be
underestimated because of the personalities involved. By virtue of her
marriage, Sonia Gandhi is today a member of one of the leading
families of the country which played an active role in the freedom
struggle. She is a naturalised citizen of fairly long standing. She
has mothered and brought up two Indian born citizens who are eligible
to contest for any office in the country. However, there may be
situations when naturalised citizens of not so long a standing may
want to contest for top constitutional positions for which they may
have the requisite lobby support and the necessary money power
backing. This has to be guarded against.
We are in the midst of an environment where morality has taken a
nosedive and the international gangs have become powerful enough to
interfere in the affairs of the other countries to wreck them both
economically and politically. Once naturalised citizens become
eligible to seek high constitutional or political positions, it makes
the job of such international outfits easier. In a healthy democracy,
the country's top constitutional positions should remain outside the
ambit of the naturalised citizens and within the reach of the natural
horn citizens only.
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