Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and lyricist-screenwriter Javed Akhtar on Wednesday questioned the Ministry of External Affairs' (MEA) assertion that an Indian passport is a travel document and not proof of citizenship, with both calling the position confusing and contradictory.
The MEA reiterated on the occasion of Passport Seva Divas that passports are issued mainly to enable international travel, and stated they are not the sole legal document establishing citizenship.
MEA officials said passports attest nationality when Indians travel abroad but are fundamentally travel documents, adding that passports are issued only after "a lot of due diligence."
The clarification came after queries on whether a person excluded from the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls could cite possession of a passport to establish citizenship.
Reacting to the statement, Thackeray wrote on X, "If the MEA believes Passport is not a document of citizenship: 1) What do the police verify before granting a passport? 2) Does our country give passports as travel documents to non Indians as well? 3) Wouldn't this announcement create doubts in the minds of other countries, of whether non Indians get Indian Passports as a travel document?"
He added, "Beyond its very confused foreign policy, how much more absurd can the MEA become?"
Akhtar posted, "The ministry of external affairs says that a passport is a document travel not the proof of citizen ship. Really??? So are they providing this travel document to some people with out being totally convinced that this person is an Indian citizen?? It is absurd."
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The ministry of external affairs says that a passport is a document travel not the proof of citizen ship . Really ??? . So are they providing this travel document to some people with out being totally convinced that this person is an Indian citizen ?? . It is absurd .
— Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) June 24, 2026
The remarks have triggered wider debate online over what officially constitutes proof of citizenship in India.
During hearings on the Bihar SIR exercise, the Election Commission had argued that Aadhaar establishes identity but not citizenship, since it can be issued to residents who are not citizens. The Supreme Court, while upholding the SIR exercise, allowed Aadhaar as an additional identity document but did not treat it as citizenship proof.
Under Section 6(2)(a) of the Passports Act, 1967, authorities are required to refuse a passport if the applicant is not an Indian citizen, even as the broader legal question of definitive citizenship proof remains unsettled.
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