Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB)

Our government keeps giving me reasons to write about them. Among the many most criticized decisions of the Modi Government, Citizenship Amendment Bill abbreviated as CAB is the recent one that I am writing about this time.

So what is the Citizenship Amendment Bill or the CAB?
The CAB seeks to amend The Citizenship Act, 1955 to make Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship of INDIA. In other words, the Bill intends to make it easier for non-Muslim immigrants from INDIA’s three Muslim-majority neighbours to become citizens of INDIA.

Now whats all the fuss about? Why is it so controversial? Why are the people protesting? (again?)
The fundamental criticism of the Bill has been that it specifically targets Muslims. Critics and the opposition argue that it is in violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to equality. In Assam and other North eastern states the percentage of Muslim immigrants are far in excess of those six religions. 

What is Article 14 and does the Citizenship Bill violate it?
Article 14 of the Constitution of INDIA provides for equality before the law or equal protection within the territory of INDIA. The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of law within the territory of INDIA.

Source : Wikipedia

In short, state shall not deny equality before the law within the INDIAN territory on the basis of caste, religion, race, sex or place of birth.

Our Home minister has been insisting that Article 14 allows for “Reasonable Classification” when it comes to making laws. Simply put, the state can discriminate between citizens on the grounds of gender, religion, caste, race, or place of birth if special benefits are being offered to them. The only restriction is that discrimination should be based on a reasonable and clearly defined definition of the group of people in question.

Likewise, A person belonging to marginalized castes in INDIA enjoys reservations in education and government jobs. The idea of “Reservation” is discriminatory in nature, but as long as it’s being done to uplift the group in question, the Parliament is free to make rules about this.

What do the people backing the bill have to say?
The people who're backing the bill say that we're surrounded by neighbours that have Islam as their state religion and many people chose to migrate to these countries because of their faith so they don't have a right to demand citizenship again. They say that after partition INDIA had around 8% Muslims and now the population is over 20% and countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan that had a good percentage of minorities after partition now have less than a 1% of their population who practice other faiths. Mostly because many were forcibly converted, killed or forced to leave their country. These stats clearly show how the INDIAN majority treated its minority population and how the other countries treated their minorities. They also say that a persecuted Muslim can still apply for refuge/citizenship in INDIA, just that it won't come under the CAB. That's all the difference there is. 31,313 is the number of people who will get citizenship as a result of this amendment. All other provisions of the Citizenship Act 1955 will remain as valid as they were prior to this amendment. Hence, all fears of INDIA being swamped with refugees resulting in a massive change of demography and ethnic tensions are far fetched. It should be seen purely as a humanitarian measure.

My take on it?
From what I've read about this bill, It doesn't discriminate any INDIAN citizen, irrespective of his or her faith or religion. It is only giving citizenship not withdrawing it from anyone. The citizens are safe and secure as usual. There is huge misinformation being spread that this bill is going to affect the minorities in INDIA or it is only meant for the Northeastern states which is absolutely wrong. This bill applies to all of INDIA and It only concerns the people coming from three neighbouring countries who may be facing hate, atrocities, discrimination and persecution in their present countries. Now the question is why just these three countries alone? What about Srilanka, Tibet, Myanmar, Nepal, Maldives etc? Aren't people in these countries facing prosecution too? 

I am not opposed to granting citizenship to the refugees who came here because of prosecution but I am opposed to the idea of discrimination based on religion. I really don't understand why do we need to sideline a certain community just because of their religion. Haven't they faced the same prosecution like others? My argument is that there are many people who came to INDIA seeking refuge from prosecution in their country hoping they would get to live a life of dignity and respect. If you go back in history, you'll see that during 1971, the Pakistani army was on a killing spree and killed hundreds of thousands of people which also included Muslims. Many of the people who survived started arriving in INDIA in huge numbers just so that they could live to see another day. They were not infiltrators. The taliban in Afghanistan have been killing muslims too and so is the Pakistani government in Balochistan and other provinces. Its true that these countries are Islamic countries but there are muslims who are prosecuted too. So why the bias? All these countries are part of the so called Akhand Bharat? So aren't they all technically your citizens too?

Think of US, Canada and the European countries doing the same tomorrow. Their majority religion is Christianity. What if they start saying that people who are a majority in their country cannot seek refuge even if they're prosecuted. What will happen to them? Where will they all go? Aren't there many INDIAN citizens seeking refuge in these countries? What if they're also shown the door? In an era of globalization when people are migrating from one country to another, discrimination on the grounds of religion should be condemned and opposed.

Our PM always invokes the mantra of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ in every international forum, which means the world is one family and our tradition of carrying everybody along gives INDIA an identity different from all other countries. So does ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ only apply to the 6 religions mentioned in the bill? Aren't we changing this uniqueness of ours? Aren't you contradicting your own statements?

When I think about the implications of this bill, I also think about the North eastern states. A large section of people in the Northeastern states, especially in Assam and Tripura, have opposed the Act, saying it will nullify the provisions of the Assam Accord of 1985, which fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of religion. The bone of contention is the cut-off date. According to Assam Accord 1985, migrants who came to INDIA before March 24, 1971, were the only to be given citizenship. However, under the new law, this cut-off date has been pushed to December 31, 2014. Thus, the locals apprehend that this will increase influx of a greater number of people in the state of Assam which will negatively impact their businesses and livelihoods. I have friends from Assam and they fear that these migrants would pose a threat to their cultural and linguistic identity which is why the opposition. 

You also need to think of how you're going to rehabilitate these people (not the 31k mentioned above but the hundreds of thousands who're already staying illegaly) so that they don't displace the existing ethnic population and change their demography or affect their language and identity. Other states must come into consensus and accept them equally but not north east alone. We also need to think of its impact on our existing infrastructure and employment. 

For it to be a truly non-partisan bill, the citizenship amendment bill should provide for expedited citizenship to all persecuted people, from any country in the world, and not just these three countries. My belief is that one day, the INDIAN citizenship amendment bill/act would provide for expedited citizenship to all marginalized people and not just those that profess a faith similar to its majority community.

Its high-time our leaders truly start thinking above vote bank politics and start thinking about overall development of the country. We cannot afford to create differences among our people. A lot has been done since independence and enough is enough. There is rising inflation, unemployment, rapes and crimes that we need to tackle so that we can truly move towards that 5 trillion dollar economy that we keep talking about. One must understand that INDIA has always been and will always be a Secular country and no fascist force will ever be able to change that.

अयं निजः परो वे/ति गणना लघुचेतसाम् ।

उदारचरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् ॥


Which translates to ‘He (a particular individual) is either my own (i.e. friend, relative, etc.) or otherwise (निजः वा परः ). Such is the calculated understanding of those of limited and small minds (इति गणना लघुचेतसाम्). Whereas, those of expansive and generous lives (उदारचरितानां) see the whole world as their family (वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्)’.

As I end this long post I would like to again reiterate that I do not belong to any political party nor do I endorse one. I am not a Bhakt or an AAM Aadmi or a Pappu follower. I am just a common man expressing my common views.

Jai Hind _/\_

#CitizenshipAmendmentBill #CAB #CitizenshipBill