Bengaluru: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a citizen of India by birth in terms of Section 3 of The Citizenship Act 1955 and as such the question of his having a citizenship certificate which is for citizenship by registration does not arise,” screams a response to an RTI filed seeking the PM’s citizenship certificate. 

The RTI was filed by Subhankar Sarkar and Pronojit Dey, the in charge of Youth wing of West Bengal AAP.  

What is Section 3 of The Citizenship Act 1955 

As per IndianKanoon website, 


Section 3 in the Citizenship Act, 1955

1[3. Citizenship by birth.—

(1) Except as provided in sub-section (2), every person born in India,—

(a) on or after the 26th day of January, 1950, but before the 1st day of July, 1987;

(b) on or after the 1st day of July, 1987, but before the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003 and either of whose parents is a citizen of India at the time of his birth;

(c) on or after the commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003, where—

(i) both of his parents are citizens of India; or

(ii) one of whose parents is a citizen of India and the other is not an illegal migrant at the time of his birth, shall be a citizen of India by birth.

The amendment to this act, which happened last year, grants citizenship to the non-Muslim persecuted minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who have been residing in Indian hitherto December 31, 2014. 

The amendment was passed by both houses of the Indian Parliament and the President also gave his consent for the same. It was then made a law. 

However, there have been  a lot of protests over the amended law have taken place, on the grounds that the law discriminates people based on religion.