Despite the words NRC and CAA having raised a furore in the country – few people would however care to actually go through the acts and resolve their queries vis-a-vis the sections and clauses for themselves . It is no surprise that the aam-aadmi used to watching political brawls on TV with amused curiosity is getting swayed every now and then either with the contradictory statements voiced by the Prime Minister and Home Minister or by the canny opposition taking a dig at their adversaries – all with the sole intention of wooing voters to their side. Hindu nationalists have claimed for decades that vast numbers of Bangladeshis have been trickling steadily into India – while several Bangladeshi government officials, for their part, asserted that not one Bangladeshi citizen has entered India illegally since 1971.
While the BJP has alleged that there are two crores illegal bangladeshi immigrants in the country, it doesn’t have a proper procedure of identifying them, leave aside proving them to be victims of religious persecution. (the CAA doesn’t mention ‘religious persecution’ anywhere). Even if the purpose of CAA is to be believed it would be useful only for those minority hindus, sikhs, buddhists, jains, parsis and christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who are either living as refugees in India since 31st December, 2014 or are left without any option other than to do so for next five years from the day of passing of CAA – before they could be naturalised/ registered as Indian citizens (Section 3 – 6B(2), Sections 5 and 6 of CAA). However for their counterpart fraternities who had entered India before 31st December, 2014 the criteria for naturalization are subject to clearance in Passport Act 1920 and Foreigners Act 1946 (Refer Section 2 of CAA provision to sub-section (1) clause (b)).
So in a bid to get 2.0 Crores illegal bangladeshi migrants identified, the identities of 7.80 Crores bengalis in West Bengal who either have lost their documents in 1947 partition or don’t have birth certificates in India are at risk. Once stricken out of NRC rolls they are required to prove their citizenship before foreign tribunal, failing which they would be at the mercy of the government to be either inducted back as refugees in the country or deported to Bangladesh.
On the flip side of the coin – along with legalising an additional 16 Million hindus from Bangladesh and Pakistan; an equal number of people have also to be ousted from the country in order to prevent population shooting up suddenly and causing further problems for the government. It is simple arithmetic. It has to be remembered that these people would demand the rights of bonafide citizens now unlike previously when they were used to live at the mercy of the State.
Also, in absence of repatriation agreement with Bangladesh and Modi government determinedly unwilling to sign the Refugee Treaty (India has neither signed the 1951 United Nations Refugee Convention nor its 1967 Protocol, which has 140 signatories, an overwhelming majority of the world’s 190-odd nations till now) citing ancient Sanskrit slogan Atithi Devo Bhava (the guest is God) it is at liberty to repatriate refugees against their will. Perhaps herein lies the justification of the NPR – NRC – CAA chronology, as pointed out time and again by our home minister Amit Shah – with the NRC and CAA instruments complementing each other – in a ploy of curbing the voices of dissent and paving the way towards a majoritarian rule.
If the BJP is successful in its political intention it would always represent all the evicted people to be muslim infiltrators in the future thereby reinstating the support of millions of those aandh-bhakhts who attribute all the problems of the country to one particular religious community of the world. And hence these devoted 'hindutvavadi deshbhakts’ attention could be diverted again from the real issues of the country .. at least till the time Pakistan declares war against India or another surgical strike can be effected when hatred of the people could again be used to hoodwink them against promises of Acchhe din.
Already a section of unemployed youth have chosen Ram Mandir over their careers and many UP residents believe construction of the temple would inundate the state with pilgrims from all over the world causing surge in sales of religious books, their only livelihood. Intoxicated with neo-patriotism, its only matter of time before these people would either become BJP’s henchmen or join propagandists of saffronized extremism on social media in order to appease the prime religion of all times – pangs of hunger.
It has now become clear like the day that despite BJP’s anti-muslim propaganda, the Hindus are being harmed by NRC more than the muslims. Already there are 12.0 lakh hindus amongst the 19.0 lakh excluded in the final list of Assam NRC (63%), out of which 42% are bengali hindus. Despite the fact that the NRC listing doesn’t discriminate on the basis of religion like CAA, the muslims stand lesser chances of getting rejected compared to hindus as they are more careful with maintaining documents than the later – being habituated with such rigorous checking of and on in the country.
For those andh-bhakhts who’re led into believing that bonafide citizens always stand a chance of being restored back into the NRC, it needs to be understood that unlike Aadhar mistakes which could be corrected umpteen times by standing in queues and paying a little fee, everytime; fighting NRC verdicts will incur heavy expenses and demand endurance for the travails typical of the Indian judicial system. Not to mention the paranoia associated with the inflicted identity crisis after living in a country through generations, in addition to stress of a down turned economy – where unemployment reigns supreme and the purchasing power of common man is getting diminished day by day; all of which can drive a person to take his/ her own life. Already 51 people have committed suicide in Assam in the NRC process according to the Citizens for Justice and Peace and 8 more in West Bengal are reported to have taken their lives so far, over the fear of its implementation.
Not only the illiterate people living in slums run the risk of facing the harassment. A retired officer of the Indian Air Force, the relatives of a former president of India, even a BJP MLA’s wife all found their names excluded from the citizens’ registry in Assam. Those blessed to be born in a society higher up the socio-economic ladder are exhausting their fortunes, knocking the doors of the right people to prove their citizenship, but what about the poor and lower middle class ? To whom would they turn to ?
Fed up with the status-quo of political affairs of the country since decades the aam admi wary of revolution are falling prey to mass-hypnotism of politicians propagating myths using all three pillars of democracy to their advantage and compelling people to believe fiction in place of facts. People are getting carried away by the grooming, oratory skills and overall charisma of the leaders to the extent that they don’t feel the urge to question their intentions anymore – this itself poses as a big threat to democracy of a country.
References:
Citizenship Act, 1955
Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003
The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920
The Foreigners Act, 1946
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