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Home ≫ Petitions ≫ Individuals ≫ R. Ratan and G. Lall

Petitions

R. Ratan and G. Lall

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Remarks

R. Ratan and G. Lall wrote to the Secretary of the Constituent Assembly. The postcard is undated. The authors outlined certain proposed criteria for Indian citizenship. These criteria excluded persons who held ‘non-Indian’ economic or political views; supported a ‘non-Indian order’; owed allegiance to nations other than India; patronised ‘foreign languages’ while feeling hatred towards the ‘Indian language’; and/or had a non-‘Indian’ name that also did not relate to their ‘race’.

CAP 55.1

[unclear]

India[unclear] either Indians or non-Indians i.e. aliens. No person living in India be accepted as Indian citizen who

CAP 55.2

(i) is a supporter of am non-Indian order

CAP 55.3

(ii) has non-Indian viewpoint about economic & political matters

CAP 55.4

(iii) owes allegiance to any other nation but the Indian

CAP 55.5

(iv) who patronises foreign languages [unclear] instead of any of the Indian languages, but hates Indian language

CAP 55.6

(v) Whose name is neither of his race nor Indian but any other. This shows his love & respect for that foreign group and hatred of his own race & nation or country.

CAP 55.7

[unclear] will laymen distinguish between [unclear] Indian and a [unclear] Indian? Inside [unclear] can [unclear]. There [unclear] be clear ex-[unclear] things that [unclear] prove of mis [unclear]ing an Indian [unclear]st & last.

CAP 55.8

Those who live by hatred & bitterness [unclear]nst others will [unclear] be hostile to them.

CAP 55.9

Yours truly
[unclear]s R. Ratan
G. Lall

CAP 55.10

The Secretary
Constituent Assembly
New Delhi

(Notes:

1. Wherever possible, we have corrected typographical errors and filled in gaps in the document’s content, to make the content readable and comprehensible. For an exact version of the document, kindly consult the archive.

2. Certain content in the original document is unclear or incompletely written. We mark such content as [unclear] where the author’s intent cannot be discerned.)