Top government sources clarified on Thursday that an Indian passport is not conclusive proof of citizenship, emphasizing that this legal position is neither a new decision nor a fresh policy change. The statement comes amidst a growing political row triggered by remarks from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) during Passport Seva Divas, where officials described the passport primarily as a travel document rather than an automatic validation of nationality.
Senior officials stated that the legal framework governing travel documentation has never treated a passport as absolute evidence of citizenship, a standard that has remained unchanged for decades. To support this position, sources highlighted Section 20 of the Passports Act, 1967, which explicitly permits the Central Government to issue passports or travel documents to non-citizens under special circumstances if deemed necessary in the public interest. This provision, authorities argued, fundamentally demonstrates that possession of the document does not automatically confer or prove citizenship status.
The government also drew attention to long-standing judicial precedents, including past rulings from the Bombay High Court in 2013, which affirmed that a passport alone cannot establish nationality. Responding to opposition criticism, officials urged media platforms to inform the public about the legal distinction between travel authorization and citizenship laws, rather than mischaracterising the MEA’s statements as a sudden policy shift.
The issue quickly gained political traction when Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray publicly questioned the rationale, asking whether rigorous pre-issuance police verifications would lose their meaning if the passport is downgraded in status. Government sources countered this argument by asserting that security and background verifications remain strictly robust. They maintained that the operational rules of a travel document should not be confused with the broader legal determination of citizenship, which remains strictly under the jurisdiction of the Citizenship Act.
