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CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT
Did Modi, Shah lose the plot ?
Modi may have won the legislative round on the new Indian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) but it is the students who have tasted blood on the law, even as the Supreme Court has decided to subject it to a constitutional test. For the present, coupled with the National Register of Citizens, (NRC), which is in the works, Modi’s citizenship venture has become a maltova cocktail. Dawn, Pakistan’s oldest English daily founded by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, whom the land of the pure considers as Baba-i-Qaum, (Father of the Nation), has come up with an interesting take on the Modi discomfiture. “… Prime Minister Modi and his Man Friday, the home minister, Amit Shah, seem to have lost the plot, which they were destined to do anyway”, the daily declared in unequivocal terms while commenting on the CAA, and the planned NCR. “Rather than uniting Hindus against Muslims, what the duo have succeeded in doing is to alienate their own hard-core allies, namely the rightwing Shiv Sena and those erring Hindutva fans that had elected the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Assam. The Modi-Shah pair has thus sparked a fire that now threatens to singe them and engulf the country,” said an op-ed in the widely read Pakistan daily.
Amit Shah, who has become the face of the new law, has a ready take for not considering Muslims from Pakistan et al for citizenship of India. “Muslims are not a minority whether in Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan. If they are, we would have put them as well (in the bill). .. It has the endorsement of 130 crore citizens as it was part of the BJP manifesto in 2014 as well as 2019 Lok Saba elections”, he said while piloting the bill. His mentor has even dared the Congress to declare that it would grant citizenship to all Pakistanis, while remarking at an election rally in poll bound Jharkhand that “aag lagaane waale” ( those spreading fire) can be “identified by their clothes (kapdon se hi pata chal jaata hai)”. He also invoked Pakistan, likening the anti-CAA protests to protests by “people of Pakistani-origin” against the court decision on Ram-Janmabhoomi and Art 370. Yet neither has been able to convince their detractors as to why and how only Sikhs, Parsis, Buddhists and Christians besides Hindus should get fast tracked citizenship. What about the plight of other persecuted minorities like Hazaras (Pakistan and Afghanistan), Shias and Balochis (Pakistan), and Rohingya Muslims escaping from Buddhist majority Myanmar? Response from official India is deafening silence. There is no word of sympathy for these beleaguered communities in India’s neighbourhood. Is this vote bank politics or Hindutva at full play? Both probably – vote bank politics for Mamatas and Sonias; saffron aggrandisement for the Hindu Hrudaya Samrats. No surprise politicians have come to be identified with a phenomenon – inability to look beyond the nose. There is no denying, however, that the opposition to plans of Modi and by extension to his Sancho Panza, Amit Shah rests as much on ideological grounds as on the core philosophy of the Indian Constitution, which is equality to all citizens without any religious discrimination. Also by the fears of marginalisation amongst the Indian Muslims and amongst the people of the North-east India, which has seen much demographic transformation over the past seventy years, thanks to the politics of vote banks, and the demand for cheap labour. Barring an occasional Rajnath Singh and a Arjun Ram Meghwal, the heavy weights in the BJP pantheon have not cared to speak up for the government. Smriti Irani, the feisty lady, who is ever ready to collide head on with Rahul Gandhi, has not been spotted on CAA bandwagon. The likes of garrulous Ram Madhavs have been too feeble to be heard probably because of the dog house status they have earned in the recent months.
There is a view that the BJP has allowed itself to be guided by the Nagpur narrative on “persecuted minorities” and thus clearly underestimated the CAA effect in the Northeast. Whatever be its faultlines, the RSS knows firsthand the deep-rooted against the Bengali across the northeast. This is not because the RSS has a foothold in the Bengalidominated pocket of Assam but because it has deployed highly trained and motivated pracharaks in the Brahmaputra valley in what has been its first major experiment with Hindutva after the 1962 Chinese war. So much so, the buck for the failure to read the local pulse that has opened up multiple battle fronts in the region should stop at the BJP doors. “Using the CAA as a legislative sleight of hand, the BJP is set to legitimise one of its pet political projects in Assam: Overnight ghettoization of over four million Muslims reportedly excluded in the final NRC list”, says a long-time Northeast watcher. This in turn has two effects: one, a blueprint for a national register of Indian citizens or what Home Minister Shah deems as his national mission; two, legitimate fears amongst Muslims about their very existence in the very land of their forefathers.
Barring an occasional Rajnath Singh and a Arjun Ram Meghwal, the heavy weights in the BJP pantheon have not cared to speak up for the government. Smriti Irani, the feisty lady, who is ever ready to collide head on with Rahul Gandhi, has not been spotted on CAA bandwagon. The likes of garrulous Ram Madhavs have been too feeble to be heard probably because of the dog house status they have earned in the recent months. All this pops up a question: Is the cadre driven, Parivar controlled, BJP up for an internal reset? Politics is a funny game with dynamics in a state of flux. Anyhow, when leaders who have a stake in the outcome of party programmes prefer a back seat, officials, who swear by their concern over increments and promotions, will not walk the extra mile. This reality is clearly pronounced at the Foreign Office, which has simply allowed Pakistan to get away with its anti-India narrative on CAA (also Kashmir). The criticism and concern voiced by the UN and other world bodies also shows that Indian diplomacy is on a casual leave these days. It refuses to be stirred out of slumber even after calls started from several American quarters for sanctions against India. As a Tufts University scholar says, the new Indian Citizenship conundrum is uniquely an Indian problem. It calls for a unique Indian solution to centralisation and overtly top-down bigoted policies. Arrest of historian & leaders
Amongst the detained, though mostly for a few hours, were Yogendra Yadav of the Swaraj Abhiyan, Marxist honcho Sitaram Yechury and CPI chief D Raja. Arrest of historian & leaders
Goswami’s vitriol against the BJP, the RSS, and Hindu migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh may have come as a surprise to many of his fans, but that is because their view of him was probably based on a misunderstanding. They probably thought he was just a regular Hindu nationalist like them. He reminded them that he’s an Assamese and, in his subsequent stance, reminded them too that his Assamese identity takes precedence over his Hindu nationalist identity. This is the fundamental point that the BJP’s outsider cheerleaders in Northeast India failed to grasp: that in the event of a clash between their Assamese and Hindu nationalist identities, many like Goswami will discover that they are Assamese first. The sense of being different from the Indian mainland existed even during the years of India’s freedom struggle, as recounted in a recent essay by Professor Sanjib Baruah for Frontline. Baruah narrates an anecdote from an account by historian Bodhisattva Kar of an argument between Jawaharlal Nehru and the Assamese public intellectual Jnananath Bora in 1937. “Nehru after reaching Assam had found to his surprise that local public opinion was exercised mostly by the question of immigration from eastern Bengal and not by any ‘national issue’ -- not even Indian independence,” Baruah writes. Goswami’s vitriol against the BJP, the RSS, and Hindu migrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh may have come as a surprise to many of his fans, but that is because their view of him was probably based on a misunderstanding. They probably thought he was just a regular Hindu nationalist like them. He reminded them that he’s an Assamese and, in his subsequent stance, reminded them too that his Assamese identity takes precedence over his Hindu nationalist identity. The BJP’s trolls spend much of their lives cursing Nehru for all of India’s ills, so it’s ironic that the great Chanakyas of whom they are bhakts made the same discovery in 2019 that Nehru had made in 1937: That public opinion in Assam is exercised more by the question of immigration from eastern Bengal than by any “national issue.” For the Assamese ruling classes, many of whom share surnames such as Goswami, Dutta, Bhattacharjee, Talukdar, Chakraborty, and Choudhury with their Bengali brethren, saving Assam from “foreigners” was and remains the primary political concern. In the struggle between Hindu nationalism and the little nationalisms it had apparently swallowed whole in Northeast India, this round has gone to the little nationalisms, which will receive a new lease of life now. The next 30 years or so are going to be “interesting times.” -- Excerpts from Op-ed “Not on the Same ON RECORD
Primer on Citizenship Amendment Law
As of December 31, 2014, the government had identified 2, 89,394 “stateless persons in India”. The majority were from Bangladesh (1, 03, 817) and Sri Lanka (1, 02,467), followed by Tibet (58,155), Myanmar (12,434), Pakistan (8,799) and Afghanistan (3,469). The figures are for stateless persons of all religions. For those who came after December 31, 2014, the regular route of seeking refuge in India will apply. If they are regarded as illegal immigrants, they cannot apply for citizenship through naturalisation, irrespective of religion. Constitutional experts believe that by not allowing Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslims who face persecution in Pakistan, or the Hazras, Tajiks and Uzbeks who faced persecution by the Taliban in Afghanistan, the law is potentially violating Article 14. They also aver that it legalises religious discrimination. Counter from Amit Shah is that Muslims can never be persecuted in Islamic countries. His party colleague Subramanian Swamy avers that a persecuted Shia would rather go to Iran than come to India. CAA vs NCRThe assertion of the government that the NRC process in Assam will be replicated in the rest of the country has fuelled fears among Indian Muslims. Plugged with NRC, the new amendment becomes an enabling law to potentially disenfranchise an individual of a religion not mentioned in the amendment. Politically, the law is expected to impact West Bengal and Northeastern states. Assam and West Bengal head for polls in 2021. Shah maintains that the CAA is intended to correct the flaws of the Nehru-Liaquat Pact of 1950. India has kept its end of the bargain by according constitutional guarantees for rights of minorities while Pakistan has failed, and it is this wrong that the new law seeks to correct. Where the Citizenship Amendment Act does not apply CAA exempts the whole of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram, almost the whole of Meghalaya, and parts of Assam and Tripura. For Manipur an inner line permit system is proposed to regulate entry of people into the state.Manipur has two geographically distinct areas. The valley, which includes Imphal, constitutes roughly 10% of the geographical area but holds around 60% of the state’s population. These belong mostly to the dominant Meitei community. The remaining 90% is hill areas, home to the other 40% that include a wide range of tribes, including Nagas and Kukis. The new law states: “Nothing in this section shall apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under ‘The Inter Line’ notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.” The Inner Line Permit (ILP) system prevails in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. In Nagaland, Dimapur town is not under ILP as of now. The new law states: “Nothing in this section shall apply to tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under ‘The Inter Line’ notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.” The Inner Line Permit (ILP) system prevails in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. In Nagaland, Dimapur town is not under ILP as of now.
Treatment of minorities in India & PakistanINDIA: Muslims in 1951 were 9.8%. Today Muslims constitute 14.2% of India's population. PAKISTAN: The population of Hindus in Pakistan has come down from 23% to 3.45 in 2011. In Lahore, which had a huge population of Hindus & Sikhs before partition, it will be difficult to find even 0.1% Hindus or Sikhs. -- Media reports in Pakistan Strains in India-B’desh strides
hreaten the friendship that Bangladesh has nurtured, maintained and remains committed to. More specifically, the Government of India’s decision to go ahead with the passing of the CAB will now aid the political implementation of the NRC as it gives special status to Hindus and people belonging to other religions but not to Muslims. And while the passage of the CAB was immediately followed by the cancellation of official visits by Bangladesh’s home minister and foreign minister, both sides still officially maintain that the NRC is India’s internal issue. This is so even though the political rhetoric in India is advocating the expulsion of “Muslim infiltrators” from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which contradicts Delhi’s official position with Bangladesh. This is precisely why many in Bangladesh believe that the NRC is blatantly disrespectful and risks undermining the only successful example of the “neighbourhood first policy” that the NDA government coined when they were elected to office in 2014. There are two available strategies the NDA government might opt to pursue in how to deal with the million-plus Muslims in Assam who are now considered infiltrators. These people can either be kept in secured camps or the Indian government can start pushing them back into Bangladesh. And while the first strategy might create an international uproar, the second is likely to completely destabilise the relationship that underpins cooperation between the two neighbours. The new law states: It is also essential to underscore that in no civilised country can religion be the basis of citizenship, specifically if the founding principles of such nation states championed secular ideals and equality before the law. In that respect, the political and legal argument of the NDA government that categorises India as the natural homeland for Hindus but not for Muslims is not only an ideological regression, but it champions a philosophy that is inherently anti-Indian. And as this process plays out, it will open the window for new sources of destabilisation in both Bangladesh and India. But this is not the only front to which the implications of the NRC will be restricted. The CAB and the NRC are instruments that try to facilitate the reconfiguration of India’s social fabric into two broad identities — Hindus and the rest — which serves only the narrow interests of the ruling coalition in Delhi, especially because it relies on religious identity-based jingoism as a political tool. Hence, the CAB and the NRC will deepen the communal divide that remains ever-present within the social fabric of South Asia. It is also essential to underscore that in no civilised country can religion be the basis of citizenship, specifically if the founding principles of such nation states championed secular ideals and equality before the law. In that respect, the political and legal argument of the NDA government that categorises India as the natural homeland for Hindus but not for Muslims is not only an ideological regression, but it champions a philosophy that is inherently anti-Indian. And as this process plays out, it will open the window for new sources of destabilisation in both Bangladesh and India. After all, if India’s right-wing Hindu forces find it justifiable to propagate a second-class citizenship for Indian Muslims and send controversially created “infiltrators” to Bangladesh, then what will stop Jamaat-e-Islami and other right-wing Islamic forces in Bangladesh from proposing similar standards for more than 10 million Bangladeshi Hindus? And how will secular and liberal forces in Bangladesh navigate this communal tension, with its root cause in the systematic persecution of minorities in India? Most importantly, how will any well-intentioned government in Bangladesh build a lasting partnership with India if the population at large becomes deeply distrusting and sceptical of such a partnership? There is little doubt that one cannot ensure geopolitical stability, security and social harmony by legitimising a political strategy that aims to turn a democracy into a communal, majoritarian political order, particularly when the Subcontinent has navigated a deeply divisive past, culminating in a profound distrust for one’s neighbour. Bilateral ties that overcame such strong historic impediments deserve respect, as they were created with hard work, meticulous political strategies, good intent and visionary leadership. Any political strategy that undermines such accomplishments merits reconsideration. Ties with Bangladesh, in particular, need careful consideration. Any crossing of the Rubicon while executing the NRC will undo the important strides that Bangladesh and India have together taken in the recent past. India, in this context, must prove that it is a respectful bilateral partner. - Excerpts from an op-ed by Ashikur Rahman (The writer is Senior Economist, Policy Research TROUBLE FOR BJP- AGP GOVTDissensions and consequent desertions are mounting in the Assam BJP ranks in the wake of citizenship law. A number of functionaries of the ruling alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) have also resigned, with some saying that the state government had failed to gauge the mood of the people against the new law.
Chief Minister Sarbanada Sonowal, who is himself a product of anti-immigration agitation of the eighties, hopes the party will weather the latest storm. In his assessment, just two lakh Bengali Hindu migrants stand to benefit in the three districts of Barak Valley — Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi.
WHAT OTHERS AVER
Urdu PressThe Citizenship Amendment Bill clearly indicates that the country is losing its secular image — in fact, it has lost it for a long time now. India is by law a secular democracy, where all people from all religions have equal rights and full religious freedom. But now, those, who till a few days ago celebrated November 26 as the birthday of the Constitution, blew apart its secular edifice.” - Editorial in Munsiff (December 11) US Commission on Religious Freedoms has asked for “restrictions” against India’s Home Minister Amit Shah. It believes this (CAB) is a step that would take India in the wrong direction. The steps taken by Amit Shah and other leaders will ensure that only a few people will be targeted and harassed because of this Bill, especially Muslims. Opposition parties have protested this Bill. India’s precious history is based on secularism and the Constitution gives everyone the same rights.” - Edit in Siasat, Dec 11, 2019 Rohingya Muslims have come to India after facing persecution on grounds of religion in Myanmar… Can Amit Shah not see this? His statements make it clear that he is planning to go after Muslims. He must first think of the rights he enjoys as a citizen. The Constitution has bestowed exactly the same rights on Muslim citizens. If non-Muslims are being persecuted on grounds of faith in their countries and we are protecting them, then we must protect all those Muslims too who are being persecuted in their respective countries. This Bill would not have been opposed had all manner of people been accommodated. -Urdu Times in an editorial titled ‘Yeh Kaisa Insaf The BJP is pushing (the NRC) as much as the opposition to it is rising. The BJP claims it is doing this as it is a promise made in its 2014 and 2019 manifestos, and that 13 crore Indians back it. But the BJP omits the fact that all Indians have not voted for it. As far as its manifesto goes, there are so many promises in it, and if the right kind of promises are fulfilled, the lives of Indians could be so much better. The GDP is not under control, nor is productivity getting better. The condition of women has not improved. BJP is disappointed with the NRC in Assam; yet it is asking for the process to be carried out all over India. The NRC in Assam cost Rs 1,600 crore, took 10 years and involved 52,000 government officers. To use this formula all over India would be a big waste and drag on time, resources and money.” -Inquilab editorial (December 12) US/UNIndia's citizenship law 'fundamentally discriminatory' against Muslims -UN human rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence The US is concerned about the implications of the new citizenship law. India must protect the rights of its religious minorities in keeping with the Constitution and democratic values. -Sam Brownback, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Requiem for Nationwide NRC?Notwithstanding its rhetoric, the BJP leadership seems to have pushed its plans for a nationwide NRC to the backburner. A clear give away was the Dec 20 comment in New Delhi of Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy. “Yes, we have announced our intent to prepare a national NRC. But no date or schedule has been decided for the exercise. All-India NRC rules have not been drafted or run through the legislative department. NRC is not going to happen immediately but in due time. Some people are spreading misinformation that NRC is being prepared countrywide and that all Muslims will be deported. Hence, we put out an advertisement today in prominent dailies to clarify that NRC exercise is yet to be formally announced and as and when it is done, rules and regulations will be so framed to rule out any harassment to Indian citizens,” he told reporters sparking speculation that the Modi-Shah combine is quietly saying requiem to the contentious plan that has sparked nation-wide protests.
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Malladi Rama Rao
A rally against the amended Citizenship Act and NRC, at August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai.
Jamia university students protesting against the CAA.
Protests in the national Capital’s Muslim-dominated pocket 
Mamata Banerjee leads a rally vowing not to allow NRC and 
Police caning protesters near DC’s office in Mangaluru.
Protestors pelt stones at police personnel at 
Mumbaikars from different walks of life at the August Kranti Maidan to 
Ramachandra Guha detained during a protest at Town Hall in Bengaluru.
Yogendra Yadav
Sitaram Yechury
D Raja
Arnab Goswami
Amit Shah
BJP leader and Chairman of Assam
Petrochemicals Limited Jagadish
Bhuyan resign 
Sarbanada Sonowal
Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik and Nitish Kumar
Ram Vilas Paswan and Chirag Paswan