Shashi Tharoor seeks law change to make passport, Aadhaar proof of citizenship

Published 26 June 2026 · politics

Amid the row over whether a passport proves Indian citizenship, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said the government should amend the law to

Amid the row over whether a passport proves Indian citizenship, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said the government should amend the law to make both the passport and the Aadhaar card valid and conclusive proof of citizenship unless they are explicitly cancelled or withdrawn by the state. Tharoor said this would require fixing a key administrative issue, as Aadhaar is currently issued on the basis of 182 days of local residence rather than nationality, and is held by both citizens and non-citizen residents. He suggested that non-citizens in India should be issued a visually distinct Aadhaar card. Read Full Story In a post on X, the former minister of state for external affairs said, "The recent statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) -- on #PassportSevaDivas, no less! -- clarifying that an Indian passport is primarily a 'travel document and not conclusive proof of citizenship' has triggered a predictable wave of public bewilderment and political sparring." He said that while the government has defended this as a long-standing legal position rooted in Section 20 of the Passports Act, 1967, which allows the state to issue passports to non-citizens under rare, public-interest circumstances, "this is a distinction without a difference, meaningless to the average citizen".

"For decades, the passport has been considered the gold standard of identity. We navigate the gruelling bureaucratic maze of police verifications and document checks required to obtain one, precisely because the state demands concrete proof of citizenship before granting it. To turn around and declare that the very document born from this rigorous vetting does not actually prove citizenship creates an absurd legal paradox," he said. Questioning what establishes domestic citizenship if a passport does not, Tharoor said, "The Supreme Court has already ruled that the Aadhaar card is merely a proof of identity and residence, not citizenship. This leaves millions of Indians in a bizarre administrative limbo where they possess world-class biometric and state-issued documents, yet none are legally deemed 'conclusive' proof of their nationality within their own borders." Calling for what he described as a legislative overhaul, he said, "The government should formally amend the legal framework to make both the passport and the Aadhaar card valid, conclusive proofs of Indian citizenship unless they are explicitly cancelled or withdrawn by the state." He added that, because Aadhaar is issued on the basis of residence and not nationality, it is held by citizens and non-citizen residents alike.