There are two committees to examine the application. First at the district level and second at the state level. There is no mention in the circular as to what will happen if the application is rejected. This difference in information is important. For example, the question has been raised that people who have been living more or less comfortably with the rest of the people for so long, without citizenship, voting with their voting cards, getting food with their ration cards, Working in various jobs. , opening bank accounts, even arranging for their national identity card. Will they be able to continue all those facilities even if their application is rejected? Or will they get a chance to apply afresh? The circular does not answer these questions.
The bigger problem lies at the roots. By applying for citizenship and submitting the affidavit, the person is admitting that he is not an Indian citizen. He is a trespasser. Such admissions give rise to intriguing questions. For example, how did the person obtain Voter Card, Ration Card, National Identity Card, etc.? If someone is a government official then his job may be in danger. This is also a matter of concern. Will they be harassed or not? All this remains a mystery.
It has not been said whether the person will be sent back if the application submitted along with the affidavit is rejected. The central government has only said that India has no such agreement with those three countries. It is true that at present there is no such agreement, but it does not take any time at all for such an agreement to be signed.
There are other unanswered questions too. For example, if the applications of a few thousand people are rejected, where will they be kept? Will detention camps be built for them in different states, as was done in Assam?
And are the government's statements regarding these detention camps at all reliable? This is a matter of apprehension because the government comes out with different statements at different times. Speaking at a public rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that no Muslim was sent to any detention camp and there were hardly any such camps in the country. Yet the fact is that Assam already had such temporary camps. Work on a temporary camp to accommodate about 3000 people on 25 acres of land in Goalpara, 150 km from Guwahati, began in 2018. Ironically, before becoming Prime Minister in 2014, Narendra Modi had announced in his election campaign that if he came to power, he would raze all detention camps.
Questions are also being raised on the credibility of the government regarding the National Register of Citizens (NRC). While Modi said the Union Cabinet has not discussed NRC, his 'man Friday' Home Minister Amit Shah, while explaining the chronology of CAA and NRC to the people, said that first CAA will be implemented, then NRC will be implemented. Those who have the sword of citizenship hanging over their neck can hardly trust the government.