Thread by @SangayMishra

1/16 One provision in Citizenship Amend. Act in India focuses on Overseas Citizens of India (OCI). #CAA is being challenged by people for linking citizenship to religion & its likely use for taking away citizenship from those who can't produce documents, particularly Muslims.

2/16 Here I want to focus on the OCI provision in #CAA and its linkages to diasporic politics.

3/16 OCI is a highly watered down version of dual citizenship where Indian origin person with another citizenship is allowed certain rights like not requiring visa, buying property, staying for longer periods without other rights that are given to dual citizens in most countries.

4/16 #CAA provision about OCI is about situations in which the government can cancel a person's OCI Card. Here is the provision's language from the Act which describes the reasons for cancelling an OCI card:

5/16 "(da) the Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder has violated any of the provisions of this Act or provisions of any other law for time being in force as may be specified by the Central Government in the notification published in the
Official Gazette; or"

6/16 Not an expert on legal matters but it sounds like a very broad provision where violation of any law can lead to cancellation of your OCI card- possibly a facebook post, a tweet, or political opinion. Hard to predict but there is little doubt about the broad scope of the law.

7/16 It is important to recall that the original OCI law (2005), which was an amendment to the 1955 Citizenship Act already has multiple provisions for cancellation of OCI card. You can see those provisions in the picture below:

8/16 There are multiple provisions(2005)for cancellation of OCI & one can read "disaffection towards the constitution of India"akin to sedition.Also,cancellation for committing a crime for which you served not less than two years is very specific and indicates severity of crime

9/16 The questions arises as to why the government needed to now add another clause for cancellation in the current #CAA ,and a very broad clause that targets many behaviors unlike previous clauses.

10/16 Segments of Indian diaspora have been complicit in supporting exclusionary nationalism/Hindu nationalism in India but diaspora has also been been disruptive of this nationalism and other kinds of exclusionary nationalism. Disruptive diaspora has taken multiple forms.

11/16 Religious minorities from India are overrepresented in diaspora & they have always challenged & produced disruptions.For instance,Indian govt. has always been uncomfortable with Sikh diaspora for highlighting human rights violations in Punjab and 1984 pogrom

12/16 Indian govt.'s discomfort was reflected in the reaction to the formation of Sikh American Congressional Caucus
thehill.com/blogs/congress…

13/16 We know of Howdy Modi! but we also know of diasporic mobilization, with major support from Indian American Muslim and Christians, that led to visa denial of Narendra Modi in 2005. The diasporic mobilization on Kashmir is causing major heartburn for India govt. today.

14/16 The cancelation of Aatish Taseer's OCI card for criticizing BJP is the most recent example how govt. comes down on those who are critical. This has been a pattern.

15/16 Christine Mehta, an Indian American working on Kashmir for Amnesty, was deported from India in 2015 and her POI card was cancelled.
thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/…

16/16 #CAA provision on OCI card has to be understood and analyzed in the context of Indian regime's fear of disruptive diaspora despite Howdy Modi and the like.