The passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill (CAB) in Parliament will mark the definitive victory of Mohammed Ali Jinnahâs thinking over that of Mahatma Gandhiâs, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor remarked on the CAB 2019 on December 8, Sunday.
He stressed that the exercise of granting citizenship on the basis of religion will reduce India to a âHindutva version of Pakistanâ. Tharoorâs prediction for India doesnât seem to be too far from reality.
Indiaâs secular future hangs in limbo, amidst the clamour around the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019. The bill that will clearly mark the âbeforeâ and âafterâ of Indiaâs approach to secularism and religious minorities, pushing the country to the cusp of major reform.
Breaking Down Amendments To The Bill The bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make people from Hindu, Sikh, Jain Buddhist, Christian and Parsi faiths who entered India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan eligible for citizenship In case a person belongs to the aforementioned faiths, from these three countries, does not have proof of birth of parents, they can apply for Indian citizenship after six years of residence in India The amended bill applies to people who were âforced or compelled to seek shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of religion..â The bill also aims to shield such people from proceedings against illegal migration So, What Is The Difference Between NRC And CAB?
Though correlated to each other, the Citizenship Act defines parameters for residents of India, while the National Register of Citizens aims to weed out illegal immigrants from citizenship rolls.
NRC in Assam mandates that a person has to prove that either they or their ancestors were present in Assam on or before March 24, 1971. The next day, the war of liberation in Bangladesh began, marked by tens of thousands of refugees entering into India.
The government has said it will extend the NRC process to the rest of India. The NRC process in Assam was not based on religion. The CAB, on the other hand, is targeted towards one faith.
The stark difference between NRC and CAB is, NRC asks one to prove that they inherently belong to India, while, CAB requires one to prove they belong to a persecuted non-Muslim minority group from the neighbouring Islamic countries.
Why Upsetting For North Eastern States
The North East Students Union (NESO), All Assam Students Union (AASU), and civil society groups of Assam believe that their indigenous rights would be jeopardized after the implementation of the recent amendments.
Lurin Jyoti Gogoi, general secretary of AASU, told The Logical Indian that the bill is communally motivated which is against the secular script India prescribes to.
Around three million migrants in Assam were excluded in the first phase of the NRC that was carried out in September 2019. They are looking up to Indian constitution with eyes brimming with hope, that they will not be thrown out of the country. The very country that once opened its arms and provided them with shelter and prospect of a better life when they fled to India especially during the partition of Bangladesh (earlier East Pakistan).
âThey have a political agenda behind the bill. The move has been carried out to divide the united people of Assam. The movement of 1979 urged for the deportation of all refugees from the state,â Gogoi said, âWith such problematic infusion of amendments in the Bill, the movementâs cause will be diluted.â
Gogoi believes that the bill is a violation of the Assam Accord and the people of North East feel betrayed by the very constitution that guaranteed to protect them.
India will now selectively pick migrants according to the rituals they practice and gods they worship. Something that goes against the very spirit of the Indian Constitution which is unprejudiced to caste, creed, sex, and religion.
To trace the story of the Citizenship Act and bill, one must go back in time when the act was put in place.
Citizenship Act 1955
When India entered into the sixth year of its Republic, the Parliament enacted the Citizenship bill to determine the rightful citizens of India. It comprised of sections that addressed who are the real citizens of India, who are foreign migrants, and who can be deemed fit to apply for Indian citizenship.
The act required amendments after the explosion of migrants, especially in the North-Eastern region, when West Pakistan attempted annexation in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
Assam Agitation and Accord 1985
Assam had become the part of Indian union post-colonial era. The government of India, which has the unilateral power to alter the borders of a state, divided Assam into several states, beginning in 1970.
Amid tensions between East Pakistan and West Pakistan, innumerable Bangladeshis migrated to India to evade conflict. Protests erupted in Assam which was teetered between India and Bangladesh and witnessed a huge influx of foreign…
