Ever since the Parliament passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, and its subsequent notification in the official gazette, there seems to be a deliberate attempt to create mayhem in the whole country by vested interests whose entire lives have been about targeting anything and everything associated with the Hindus. The law is to bestow Indian Citizenship to persecuted religious minorities from our neighbouring Islamic countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, where Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Buddhists, Christians are subjected to various forms of atrocities ranging from forceful conversions, abductions, murder, etc just because they happen to belong to these religions. Such phenomena are well documented wherever Muslims are in majority, even if its in North Pole or South Pole.!
Prime Minister Modi himself has said that the law is to correct the historical wrong committed during the partition of our country. Hindus who hoped for a better future and migrated to Pakistan were belied and the resultant effect was that they were systematically targeted by the Pakistani state because of their religious beliefs, and in order to escape this wrath, they had no other option but to enter India in order to save their culture, tradition, wives, sons, and their very lives.! Bangladesh was earlier part of Pakistan(known as East Pakistan) till it was liberated by Indian military intervention in 1971. The situation for Hindus is similar in Bangladesh, if not worse.
The Constitution of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan say Islam is their state religion and hence the name Islamic Republic Of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan. So when the Constitution of these countries explicitly professes Islam to be their state religion, how can the Muslims living there face religious persecution in their own homes. Its like saying Hindus are persecuted here in India and seeking citizenship somewhere else. This just does not happen.! And its because of this very reason that the Muslims of those countries are excluded from the ambit of this law. However, if they apply for Indian Citizenship, it won’t be denied, but due process will be followed to accord citizenship to them. Its just that the current Citizenship (Amendment) law is altogether different from the normal Citizenship law under which any person of any country can be granted citizenship after due process.
Coming to the protests that we are witnessing against the amended law in some parts of the country, it is purely motivated. No Indian, in any way, is affected by this amended Citizenship law. Indians have nothing to lose due to the passage of this bill in Parliament. The protests in Assam is because the law negates the Assam Accord of 1985, wherein all Bangladeshis irrespective of their religious beliefs were to be identified and deported. What Citizenship law does is that it keeps religious minorities (Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Parsis, Buddhists) of Bangladesh and talks of deporting only illegal Bangladeshi Muslim from Assam. The reason for keeping them is already quoted at the beginning of this article. However, the people of Assam, rightfully, and understandably, were peacefully protesting against the amended law, until it was hijacked by vested interests and turned violent.
The people of Assam are amongst the most tolerant and peace-loving people of India, as is evident from the fact that they have historically shared the disproportionate burden of illegal Bangladeshis for decades and continued with their peaceful protests. But they must, and I think have already understood, the importance of the new law that protects our fellow brethrens who were treated mercilessly by the Muslim-majority neighbouring country. Like I said before, the Prime Minister has himself said that the law is to correct the historical wrong committed at the time of partition of our country, and Assamese people are aware of it now. Besides, the Government has already constituted a committee to implement Clause 6 of the Assam Accord, 1985 that seeks to protect the cultural, social, linguistic, political rights of the Assamese people, clearly sending a message that the government cares for the rights of the Assamese people, unlike the Congress Party that never cared to implement Clause 6, or conduct an NRC exercise in the state as was promised to the Assamese people under the 1985 accord. The Modi Government has done both.!
As for the protests elsewhere, it is deliberately done by the enemies of the Modi regime who don’t want Hindus to remain at peace anywhere. And for the protesters, they themselves know what will happen when NRC is implemented throughout the country, and just like PM Modi said, those who are protesting can be identified merely by looking at their clothes. It is this fear that’s forcing the illegals and their backers, to come out and ransack anything that they can lay their hands on. The Government is watching, the Intelligence Bureau(IB) is collecting all the data about the protests and their sponsors. Wait and watch what the Government of India does. Meanwhile, state governments can learn from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s assertion that those who destroy public property during protests will have to compensate for it themselves by having their own properties’ auctioned.
