So, there has been a clear division between the Communists and the rest on this issue of naturalized citizenship to the women who are married to Nepali citizens. The women have to wait for seven years to become a “Nepali,” while the males married to Nepali women can never be a Nepali. That is very strange. It is absolute discrimination.
People with legal background have illuminated on this issue. Nepal’s new law seems to be informed by the Indian citizenship law that requires seven years to be naturalized. So is it s tit-for-tat? Maybe, but it is more of a political stance of the Communist and the other political parties too who support immediate citizenship.
In reality, these laws have not been able to work accordingly. In the border region, many Indians have dual citizenship. If needed, some money will get you citizenship. There are reported to be few ministers in the Nepal government who have dual citizenship but are hiding the Indian nationality.
The question we need to ask is this: Why the citizenship law? Of course, the simple precept is that those born in the country will be more patriotic and will work for the benefit of the country. People born outside the country, cannot be loyal and work for the benefit of the adopted country. Hence there is a law in The U.S. that prevents naturalized citizens to hold the highest office. Yes, that is why the famous Austrian immigrant to the U.S. Arnold Schwarzenegger could and did become the governor of California, the most populated and largest state in the nation, but he cannot run for the presidential election. This is one time when he cannot say, “I’ll be back.”
The automatic citizenship is based on two fundamental precepts. Jus soli and jus sanguinis. Jus soli is based on being born on the soil of the country, something the U.S. recognizes hence has been abused by immigrants to have what is known as the “anchor baby.” Women have traveled to the U.S. to have babies there so that they are automatically U.S. citizens. Jus sanguinis is based on ancestry, the blood lineage. Nepal practices this ancestral citizenship right, not birth.
Jus matriomii, related to marriage, is the tricky one. Usually, the world accepts that the women will take the citizenship of the husband’s country. But how long do they have to wait? When will they take their adopted land as their homeland? Well, it does take some time to change nationality. If a woman has to wait for seven years, is that not itself a cause for disparity and rights in their family? While the alternative proposed by those who say “sindoor and citizenship” together, might also be a little troublesome. While the social, economical and property rights might be attained sooner, political rights are the cause of concern. Given the case of Sarita Giri, the concern is genuine. However, there are already checks for them in Nepal’s constitution.
The crux of the matter is that the Communist Party chose to impose seven years wait as a political tool. They felt that after the new Nepal map and amendment of the Constitution, they are perceiving that the people are on their side and this would exploit their nationalistic stance.
In case of Nepal, this is ironic. These same politicians and the Communist party that sees threats from giving citizenship to married women are the ones hell-bent on passing MCC, totally handing over the sovereignty to a foreign business entity. What is this duplicitous character? Nepal is under threat from these leaders than the married women who might be married to Nepalis males. These ancestral citizenship holders are shameless, immoral, and traitorous leaders.
Given that the citizenship law of Nepal is already discriminatory against women, this should not come as a surprise. However, the main lesson for us is that in light of the history of distribution of citizenship in millions to Indian nationals in the past, and the ease with which citizenship is sold in the border area, these politicians are the real posse that pose the greatest threat to Nepal.
