Daily Times

Recently, speaking at a Microsoft event for editors in New York, Mr Satya Nadella said, “I think what is happening in India is sad, primarily as sort of someone who grew up there… I think it’s just bad.” Mr Nadella is enjoying one of the most important key-positions in Microsoft. He grew up in India’s technology hub, Hyderabad, and later on, succeeded in getting American citizenship.

However, the BJP leaders have reacted very harshly to this statement of the Microsoft Boss. Newspapers and TV channels are replete with the resentment rather condemning statements of the BJP leaders over the issue. BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi said in a tweet that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s statement on CAA is a “perfect example,” of “how literate need to be educated.”

Discrimination against the minorities in India, particularly against the Muslims and the Christians, is not a new trend. In the last week of December 2019, BJP Delhi’s Vice-president Shazia Ilmi also had to face the same discrimination when she was not allowed to go on the stage from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed the gathering during his Sunday rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan. She complained that “other” Delhi unit leaders were given the passes for the main stage. Analysts believe that she had to face this discrimination just because she was a Muslim. Ilmi had been a very active member of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) till May 2014, after which she joined the BJP. She has now accused the senior leadership of the BJP Delhi’s unit of discrimination and favouritism. According to the media reports, Ilmi expressed her anger and said she felt humiliated as her pass was not made while the other office-bearers of the Delhi unit were allowed on the main stage.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is being seriously criticised, not only in India but all over the world, as it is seen as discrimination against the Muslims and other religious minorities. It is one of the world’s darkest discriminatory laws based on religion. Even the Indian Constitution does not support such brutal legislation. There is a storm of protest all over the country against this new amendment. Social workers, members of different human rights organisations, teachers, actors, students and even traders are expressing their reservations over this new amendment. Bollywood actor Zeeshan Ayub said while criticizing the CAA, “Everyone has been exposed and the common man has understood everything and the right-wing people cannot make a fool out of them by giving vague statements.” He complained even the BJP leaders did not have any clear concept of this amendment and were pushing the general public into a blind alley of confusions. Ayub said while talking to the ANI, “The Home minister said something, the next day something else is being said in the Ram Leela; people are getting confused.”

The Citizenship Amendment Act is seen as discrimination against Muslims and other religious minorities

The discriminatory CAA has enraged and infuriated a large number of youth belonging to different religious identities. Most of the protesters are university students. The law enforcement agencies are, however, treating the protesting students as if they are not Indians but Pakistanis. Just a few weeks before, in Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia University, the agencies tried to snub the protesters most violently by firing poisonous tear gas at them. Media reports claimed that many students were seriously injured and many were still missing.

Renowned Indian novelist, Chetan Bhagat, is an ardent supporter of Mr Modi. But even he is not happy over the police action against the students protesting on the CAA. In a series of tweets, he said while criticising the BJP government, “All universities must be protected. Those who fantasise about India with a Hindu king and his subservient subjects must remember this; even if I dignified your bigotry (I don’t), you can’t wish 200 million Muslims away. Try that and India will burn, GDP will crash and your kids will be unsafe and jobless. Stop these fantasies!”

The flood of protest against the CAA is creating many political as well as diplomatic problems for India. According to a report published in the Washington Post, in India’s northeast, a collection of seven states that share borders with Bangladesh, Myanmar and China, the passage of the bill sparked violent protests in which two people were killed on Thursday while 25 were injured by security forces. Assam is one of these seven states where the situation is at its worst. A meeting between Mr Modi and the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, was scheduled to take place in Guwahati, the largest city in Assam but because of the ongoing unrest in Assam, this visit has been cancelled. Moreover, feeling the enormity of the situation, the US and British governments have urged their citizens to “exercise caution” if travelling to India’s northeast.

Lurin Jyoti Gogoi, the general secretary of All Assam Students’ Union, has warned the BJP government that protest against the CAA would not stop unless the government reviews the amendment bill. He said, “The movement in Assam will intensify, and the legal fight against the citizenship act will continue.”

Unfortunately, the BJP government is not feeling the severity of the matter. No one seems to be willing to listen to the protesting voices. Ignoring the voices of the already crushed minorities is simply a routine practice of the Modi government but this time, this routine practice may prove to be disastrous.

The writer is an Associate Professor of English at Govt. College of Science, Multan