Daily Times

Ashutosh Varshney, Professor of Politcal Science and Director, Center for Contemporary South Asia, Brown University and Columnist, The Indian Express tweeted:

‘Here is the most important fact about India today. Delhi, UP, Gujarat and Karnataka look like BJP territory, but most of the remaining India has slipped away from BJP’s grasp. Even if protests melt away, federalism is hitting back against BJP’s only-one-kind-of-India plan.’

(25th December 2019)

‘Modi tried to integrate India in Kashmir, but ended up integrating Kashmir into India’: a beautifully well expressed summation of approach by BJP government that has led to nation-wide protests in India that started with The Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, by an Indian friend.

Under the amendment, the Act grants Indian Citizenship to immigrants based on their religious beliefs. The benefit extends to Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and Christians who seek or sought shelter in India before 31st December 2014 including the stated date. The law specifically excludes Muslims. Muslims from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh are also excluded from seeking Indian Citizenship under the new Act.

The logic, it may be termed so, that Muslims do not need help from India because they are Muslims is faulty. This immediately excludes the Ahmedya community from Pakistan and Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar from seeking asylum. As per Guardian, ‘Look to north-eastern Assam, where almost two million people face statelessness following exclusion from the National Register of Citizens, sometimes because of simple clerical errors. Citizens have been turned into foreigners.” (17th December 2019)

The bill has a potential to create the biggest refugee issue of the world as Indians are pushed into the ‘illegal mesh.’

The original law, created in 1955, extended citizenship to all Indians of its states. However, under the Amended Act, citizenship by naturalization requires applicant to have been residing in India for 12 months and for 11 of last 14 years. The condition is relaxed for 5 year term for the religions stated as being offered the right to apply.

Those who cannot ‘prove their ancestry’ (Role of NRC) and subsequently declared illegal, will be transported to India’s first detention center, reportedly equal to the size of seven soccer fields in a remote part of India’s northeast area. This detention camp in Assam can house roughly 3,000 detainees. This year, Assam’s citizenship registry moved off 1.9 million as Indian citizens from its lists.

According to the records of the Intelligence Bureau, the immediate benefits of the Act are ‘31,313 people: 25,447 Hindus, 5,807 Sikhs, 55 Christians, 2 Buddhists and 2 Parsis.'(Deccan Herald, 15th December 2019&TripathiRahul 23rd December 2019).

Coupled with CAA, the strong possibility of fast tracking of collection of ancestry documentation by the National Register of Citizens (NRC), has created great fear and uncertainty among the Indians, particularly the Muslim community. The ancestry documents will be deemed the proof of awarding of Indian Citizenship. President Amit Shah, promised, “A Bharatiya Janata Party government will pick up infiltrators one by one and throw them into the Bay of Bengal,” he said, referring to illegal immigrants from neighboring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.’ (Reuters, April 12th 2019)

Between April 2020 to September 2020, fresh data will be collected of residents for “place of birth of father and mother, last place of residence.” Information on mobile number driving license number, voter ID and Aadhaar (optional).

The core question here is: does any civilized nation in the world allow citizenship on grounds of religion? To answer to this basic question, one needs to analyze the definition of ‘citizen’.

“Citizen – A member of a free city…possessing all the rights which can be enjoyed by any person under its constitution.”

(Black’s Law Dictionary, First Edition, 1891)

There is absolutely no discrimination on basis of gender, ethnicity, religion or any other ground. Many petitions have already been filed in the Supreme Court of India challenging the constitutional validity of the Citizenship. The petition by Congress MP Jairam Ramesh states, “The impugned Act creates two classifications, viz, classification on basis of religion and the classification on the basis of geography and both the classifications are completely unreasonable and share no rational nexus to the object of the impugned Act i.e., to provide shelter, safety and citizenship to communities who in their native country are facing persecution on ground of religion.” (The Times of India, December 13th, 2019)

The Citizenship Amendment Act cannot be seen in isolation. This is a snowballing of Hindu nationalism that is changing the face of one of the biggest democracies of the region that rejects inclusivity and supports exclusivity, of Hindus. First was the rubbishing of Article 370 of IOK as well as Article 35-A, the inflicting of cruelty upon the residents of IOK with the aim to change the demographic structure of Indian Occupied Kashmir. India’s central government has already picked an area covering 15,000 acres- situated mostly next to streams and rivers to attract foreign investors. Then came the Babri Masjid verdict and now the Citizen Amendment Act 2019. The common thread shared by the three is their anti-Muslim veneer.

Michael Kugelman, senior associate at Wilson Center tweeted:

’23 people have now died across #India in the ongoing protests against the CAA. They are increasingly large and increasingly deadly. Make no mistake: A government that was wildly popular for more than five years now has a huge political mess on its hands.’

(21st December 2019)

The numbers have since increased. Many injured and thousands detained. BJP has cracked down hard on the protestors. They have not cowed down. They have not backed off. They have not left the streets. They are out there fighting for the democratic order India stood for. Till now.

That the world is getting a shock to see this face of India- will be an understatement. MeenakshiGanguly, the South Asia Director of Human Rights Watch told a TV channel that the Indian government must realize that “a Hindu majoritarian ideology may not be acceptable to a large number of Indian citizens.” He echoes the sentiments of academics, legal experts, and people hailing from civil society worldwide.

By following a pro-Hindu policy to exclusion of a large Muslim majority, India is preparing fertile grounds for regional complexities already riddled by problems with U.S trying to extricate from Afghanistan and killing of QassemSoliemani of Iran.

India is facing an economic regression. Ending 2019, Indian economy growth has fallen to lowest since 2013. Hamstrung lending in financial sector has led to more woes. To add to its financial issues, the Citizenship Bill protests has led to losing around 24.5 million Indian rupees $350,000 in revenue every hour by the Indian mobile operators.

The bill has a potential to create the biggest refugee issue of the world as Indians are pushed into the ‘illegal mesh.’ Bangladesh is concerned these Indians deemed illegal may be thrust into her border. Bangladesh has sought written assurance from India that it will not be made to play host to these ‘refugees’.

In the present world order, actions of a state within its geographical boundaries do not remain restricted to the country alone. The positive and negative actions have a deep impact on relations with international comity of nations. For Modi government to ignore the global reaction to her divisive policies will lead to her expulsion from a group of nations that support inclusivity of different religions. This will have far-reaching negative impact on India.

The writer is a lawyer, academic and political analyst. She has authored a book titled ‘A Comparative Analysis of Media & Media Laws in Pakistan