THE Supreme Court’s Constitution Bench judgment pronounced on October 17, 2024 in the challenge to Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, saw a fierce battle of ideas with the proponents and opponents of the provision both relying on varying, and often opposing, interpretations to the constitutional provisions in support of their respective arguments.
While the arguments sought interpretation of various constitutional provisions from the right to preservation of culture as enshrined in Article 29 to the right to equality under Article 14, one of the key contentons raised by both parties, revolved around the interpretation of the preambular promise of fraternity.
The petitioners, or the opponents of the 1985 amendment— deeming persons of Indian origin who entered from the then East Pakistan before March 25, 1971 to Assam as citizens of India— relied on the idea of fraternity relating it to the unity and integrity of the nation which, as per the petitioners, suffered by permitting a demographic change due to influx of pre-1971 migrants.
