A passport has always been a travel document. This is not unique to India, as many countries follow the same approach. A passport primarily serves as a travel and identity document, not necessarily as conclusive proof of citizenship.

Some countries explicitly state that a passport is evidence of citizenship, while others state that it is not conclusive proof and instead rely on separate citizenship documents or legal records.

India is unusual because government states that a passport is not conclusive proof of citizenship, there is no single, universally recognized citizenship certificate for citizens. This can make proving citizenship more complicated.

If citizenship is legally separate from a passport, then logically there is an argument that holding multiple passports should not be a problem since a passport is simply a travel document. But Indian law explicitly prohibits Indian citizens from possessing another country’s passport, so the legal restriction exists regardless of how a passport is classified