Sadia Khan
Recently a citizenship amendment bill (CAB) was passed by Indian parliament as an amendment to 1955 legislation which caused the unrest throughout India. According to the legislation Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, jains, Parsis who fled Muslim majority countries (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh) prior to 2015 shall be granted Indian nationality while the Muslims who form fourteen percent of India’s population are exempted from this privilege.
The bill came as a disappointment to the public as it openly discriminated the Muslims and left over thirty million Muslims without a country. The citizenship amendment act (CAA) also raised genuine Hindu concerns due to which protests raged in major cities of India including Decca, Mumbai, Bhopal and Hyderabad, grabbing the attention of international media.
Within a week at least six people have been killed in protests while over a hundred have been injured by the use of brutal force by Indian government against the demonstrators. Indian Police have shown no mercy to the demonstrators who have been beaten, tear gassed and shot. Students belonging to Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University are amongst the unfortunates to have witnessed such circumstances. More than two hundred students have been injured by the police. Over a week has passed peaceful protests against the legislation have turned violent almost everywhere in India yet the Indian government remains negligent to the delicacy of the situation. Not only the Muslims are out to protest but the Hindu nationals have also taken the streets to raise their concerns to the government. Majority Hindu citizens fear that CAA would legalize the status of illegal immigrants and give way to excessive immigration which may initiate economic as well as refugee crisis as faced by the European nations.
It is truly ironic that the Indian government insists the legislative move to benefit the fleeing minorities by providing them protection whereas in reality these minorities are least safe in India as they are regularly harassed and in few cases even killed for their beliefs. At least a hundred and thirty people have lost their lives to communal violence per year from 2005-2007. In 2017 as a minimum 10 people have been killed by cow protection lynch mobs alone.
Indian politics is based upon fear. Nationalist parties such as Bharatiya Janata Party use rhetoric speeches to spread hatred for the Muslims in Hindu communities which helps them achieve their political ambitions. Since many Hindus in India still carry the hatred for Muslims due to cultural, historic and economic reasons they are easy to manipulate by the politicians. Hence, legislation may not come as a surprise to many as it is already expected of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to gather radical Hindu support for his government and take measures to over shadow his failures.
Baharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power by using dangerous nationalist schemes to mainstream Hindus who believe the Indian Muslims to have allied with Pakistan. Since the elections are expected to be held in 2021 in India the move is perfectly timed to once again revive BJP’s nationalism. This electoral strategy has been used in northern India in 1989 as well which encouraged orchestrated attacks on Muslims and led to the BJP’s success in local and state elections.
Narendra Modi has repeatedly failed in his strategy to isolate Pakistan from rest of the world. He accused Pakistan of harboring terrorist and even blamed Pakistan for the shaded pulwama attack. Tensions further rose between the two nuclear neighbors to an extreme level over India’s atrocities in Kashmir. India later conducted an operation in Balakot and made false claims to have targeted over a hundred members of banned outfit in Pakistan. The truth was later revealed by the Pakistani government and media internationally who visited the site for itself. The return of Indian pilot Abhi Nandan who was captured by Pakistan in series of leading events further humiliated prime minister Modi and added to his government’s failure which not only exposed Modi’s condemnable intentions but also let down Indian forces’ morale. All such events resulting in failure of BJP brought fame to the opposition who has seized every opportunity to expose and criticize Modi’s tactics.
This discriminatory legislation is another example of Modi’s desperate attempt to over shadow his failures and stir nationalism through riots to gain Hindu extremists’’ support for upcoming Indian elections in 2021. BJP is without a doubt playing with fire by attempting to change the demography of the region to meet its selfish ends. The Indian government is highly ignorant of the consequence of Citizenship amendment act which not only affects the Muslims in India but also has its toll on Hindus thus causing further segregation. This law is a scheme to marginalize the Muslims of India. CAA due to its discriminatory nature is against the human rights and is in opposition to the spirit of India’s own secular constitution. It further absurdly labializes the minorities who had been living in India for generations as “refugees”.
At the moment the raging protests, the curfews and the clashes between the police and demonstrators in India present a war like scenario of 1947 and 1971. It seems that in a desperate attempt to restore its popularity and win 2021 elections BJP has chosen to disregard states own constitution. Is BJP making a history or is history repeating itself?
—The writer is freelance columnist based in Islamabad.
