LAST week (March 11), in an anti-Muslim move, based on religious stratification and bigotry, the Hindutva-run government in New Delhi chauvinistically announced the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), an ethnically polarized law that was passed by Parliament in 2019, albeit remained unforced until now. The controversial CAA – whose content in India’s Lok Sabha had trigged protests across the country five years ago over allegations of an anti-Muslim hatred and prejudice– comes closely at a time when BJP’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to seek a third term in office through national elections. Pakistan’s Foreign Office criticized this controversial citizenship law on religious minorities in neighbouring Muslim countries, saying it differentiated among people on the basis of their faith.
Today, India under the Narendra Modi regime is fully practicing the policies– of ultra-nationalism and fascism–which are antitheses to the norms of any democratic government or society. Per se, by nurturing discrimination–on the basis of colour, religion, caste and gender, India is fostering apartheid against Muslim minorities. Critics of the CAA say it is exclusionary and violates the secular principles enshrined in the Indian Constitution, which prohibits discrimination against citizens on religious grounds. For instance, the new law does not cover those fleeing persecution in non-Muslim majority countries, including Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka. Given the gravity of this apartheid-driven political trajectory of the Modi’s Government, on Twitter, sociologist Nandini Sundar spoke of apartheid against Muslims in India. Spanish jurist Alfons López Tena described the current situation in India “like the apartheid in South Africa.”Modi’s Hindutva state has introduced a new system of religious stratification in India, which is by all means a dangerous anti-peace notion in the South Asian region.
Moreover, Indian opposition parties –led by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor–are set to challenge the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the Supreme Court, labeling it as ‘unconstitutional.’ Tharoor affirmed that if the INDIA alliance, including the Congress party, comes to power, they will repeal the CAA, emphasizing that their struggle is for a nation inclusive of all religions.
Notably, following protests within India, the international community, including the United Nations, the United States and Amnesty International, has raised serious reservations regarding the CAA. The United Nations Human Rights Commission labeled the Act as a violation of India’s human rights laws. Expressing concerns, the spokesperson of the US State Department emphasized the importance of religious freedom and equal treatment for all minorities under the law. They stated that the US is closely monitoring the implementation of the law by the Indian Government.
Legally put, the law amends the 64-year-old Indian Citizenship law, which currently prevents illegal migrants from becoming Indian citizens. This is to divide the people, incite communal sentiments and undermine the fundamental principles of the Constitution,” Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement. “This move to stratify Indian citizens, who have equal rights, must be opposed unitedly.” After seeking nine extensions for the notification of the rules, the timing right before the elections is evidently designed to polarize the elections, especially in West Bengal and Assam,” Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said on X..
The incorporation-cum-implementation of the CAA law remains one of the key campaign promises of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party before a general election scheduled to be held by May. Critics argue that the law is further evidence that Modi’s Government is trying to reshape the country into a Hindu State and marginalize Muslims. “Many have opined that the exclusion of Muslims as a group from the ambit of the law constitutes an extreme example of discriminatory treatment and that the right of equality without discrimination – particularly if it has a ‘racial’ element – is one of the fundamental principles of international human rights,” de Varennes , the UN special rapporteur on minorities, told Al Jazeera.
All the more, The Hindu, one of India’s leading newspapers, writes, ‘’The government’s decision to implement the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), 2019, just days before the dates for the general election are expected to be announced seems to be a precursor to the ruling BJP exploiting a polarizing issue in the poll campaign. A law strongly opposed by many, especially by the Muslim community, for introducing a religion-based test for grant of citizenship to immigrants from three chosen countries, the CAA is under legal challenge before the Supreme Court of India’’.
By introducing this divisive measure, India has violated its own domestic law as such; a constitutional obligation is imbibed in the India Constitution Article 15 -2(a) and (b)–prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of “religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.” The CAA can provide legal status and citizenship for most migrant communities, but not for Muslims. Observers note, citizenship has always been unequal and fraught in India. As argued by the social theorist Partha Chatterjee (2004), universal citizenship premised on the notion of equal citizens has never existed in practice. The CAA by enshrining discrimination in law on the grounds of religion can thus be considered unconstitutional.
Moreover, the fear is entailed that many of India’s Muslims could end up detained in camps for illegal immigrants, which fits in with the general dehumanization of Muslims in India inspired by the BJP. Recently, legal hawks in Modi’s Government have filed a petition in India’s top court (to be heard on April 24) to delete secular and socialist words from the preamble of the Indian Constitution.
By the above yardsticks, it is quite clear that the Indian premier is highly influenced by Israeli Premier Benjamin’s Netanyahu’s apartheid sponsored policies vis-à-vis the Palestinian Muslims. The course of events –synchronizing in both India and Israel—marginalizing the Muslims uphold the truth that both the countries practice policies of religious, political, and cultural hatred against the Muslim communities Against this backdrop, it is fit to rephrase three states–Israel, India, and North Korea—with the title of axis of evil.
—The writer, an independent ‘IR’ researcher-cum-international law analyst based in Pakistan, is member of European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on IR, Critical Peace & Conflict Studies, also a member of Washington Foreign Law Society and European Society of International Law. He deals with the strategic and nuclear issues.
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