First of all, most of us don't know that the prelude of the discriminatory aspect of the Citizenship Act is already a law for the last 3-4 years. In 2015 and 2016, the central government issued two notifications exempting certain groups of illegal migrants from provisions of the 1946 and the 1920 Acts.These groups are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who arrived in India on or before December 31, 2014.This implies that except Muslims, all other groups of illegal migrants will not be deported or imprisoned if they are caught for being in India without valid documents. Even the RBI in 2018 kept out Muslims long-term Visa (LTV) holders from property buying right. LTV holders of all other religions were allowed to purchase one residential property in India.
The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 goes leaps ahead and seeks to provide Citizenship to religiously persecuted individuals from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan belonging to all the world major religions except the Muslims. The Act has the discriminatory element at its face value but the long- term repercussions of such differential treatment are way more dangerous.
The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 goes leaps ahead and seeks to provide Citizenship to religiously persecuted individuals from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan belonging to all the world major religions except the Muslims. The Act has the discriminatory element at its face value but the long- term repercussions of such differential treatment are way more dangerous.
Why are Muslims protesting?
♦️ After the NRC excercise is conducted pan-India, it's highly likely that millions of people (of all religions) will not be able to prove their citizenship owing to lack of few documents or some mistakes wherein. Out of all such left-out people, if they want to acquire Indian citizenship by naturalisation, as per the amended Citizenship Act, only Muslims will have to prove that they've been residing in India for atleast last 11 aggregate years, while people of all other religions will have to prove the same for only 5 years. That’s blatant discrimination against Muslims.
♦️ After the NRC excercise is conducted pan-India, it's highly likely that millions of people (of all religions) will not be able to prove their citizenship owing to lack of few documents or some mistakes wherein. Out of all such left-out people, if they want to acquire Indian citizenship by naturalisation, as per the amended Citizenship Act, only Muslims will have to prove that they've been residing in India for atleast last 11 aggregate years, while people of all other religions will have to prove the same for only 5 years. That’s blatant discrimination against Muslims.
♦️ The Bill states that on acquiring citizenship: (i) such illegal immigrants shall be deemed to be citizens of India from the date of their entry into India, and (ii) all legal proceedings against them in respect of their illegal migration or citizenship will be closed. Hence, only Muslims immigrants will be left out and they may be imprisoned or deported under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920.
♦️ If persecution is the criteria for granting citizenships to immigrants, it's a fact that the Rohingyas of Myanmar, Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslims of Pakistan or the Hazras, Tajiks and Uzbeks of Afghanistan,Madhesis from Nepal or Tamils of Sri Lanka or even Atheists face persecution in their countries.The UNO has called Rohingyas as the most persecuted minorities of the world. But BJP - led government won't grant them citizenship as the above-mentioned persecuted communities don't belong to the traditional vote bank of BJP. Granting citizenship on the basis of religion is an absolute violation of Article 14 (Right to Equality) and a dishonor to the Indian Preamble, secularism being a part of its basic structure.
♦️ The Act is also discriminatory in general because it shall provide citizenship to only those immigrants who entered India before or on December 31, 2014. So, what about people who enter India after that date. Will they not have faced any persecution?
Why NRC is anti-poor?
♦️ Millions of people in India have always lived under extreme poverty since ages. They don't own any land or house, neither their forefathers did ; they never got admitted to any school. Can we expect such downtrodden people who live hand-to-mouth, to show land and tenancy records to prove their citizenships?
♦️ The unfortunate experience gained from NRC from Assam should serve as a warning to the rest of the country. Though the BJP is admitting that the NRC process in Assam was “flawed”, it seems hell-bent to extend NRC to the rest of India. When the Assam exercise itself has given birth to a massive humanitarian crisis , can there be any rationale for extending it to even a single other Indian state, let alone whole of India? When the administrative cost of NRC in a small state like Assam alone cost thousands of crore, won't it be a financial disaster for India to afford pan+india NRC that would cost lakhs of crores at a time when the Indian economy is facing severe crisis?
Such a law that imperils the very secular foundation of our nation and create a huge humanitarian crisis should no doubt be protested against but the protest should be peaceful. Violence and Vandalism are absolutely illegal, unethical and shall only dilute the public support and real cause the struggle stands for.
IRFAN