The ruling BJP government brought Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 amidst protests from every corner of the Northeast region of India. It has been said that the Bill will help refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who have been made victims of religious persecution. This Act strives to help people from Hindu, Sikh, Parsi, Jains, Buddhist and Christians who have been persecuted by offering them fast-track citizenship. However, on the contrary, India is divided as a section of its citizens also believe that the Act not only challenges the Constitutional morality, but poses a threat to democracy questioning the identity of being an Indian. What are your views on the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019?
CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT, 2019: A challenge to the idea of ‘INDIA’?
“Unfortunately for the minorities in India, Indian Nationalism has developed a new doctrine which may be called the Divine Right of the majority to rule over the minorities according to the majority. Any claim for the showing of power by the minority is called communalism while monopolizing the whole power by the majority is called Nationalism”.
– Dr. B.R Ambedkar
India’s recent passage of Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 presage a fatal blow to the secular society we abide under the Constitution of India – the Social Document. The exclusion of Muslims, by enabling the expedited citizenship of only undocumented Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians, is an insult to the intent of the Constitution and the objectives of the Constituent Assembly.
Citizenship Amendment Bill which is now Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 is in clear violation Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which grants ‘Equality before law – that the state shall not deny to “any person” equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India, prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth’. As such, any religious test for citizenship undermines the most basic democratic principle. In fact, CAA 2019 creates an obvious category of a persecuted and discriminated minority and could become the doorway for a full-scale persecution of minorities despite the assurances or rather the denial on the matter by the present government. CAA 2019 being violative of Article 14 a further can be noted that the Article 14 applies where equals are treated differently without any reasonable basis. But where equals and unequals are treated differently, Article 14 does not apply, which simply means that ‘Equals cannot be treated unequally’, therefore, as has been done in case of CAA any classification based solely on religious a religious identity ipso facto violates Art. 14. Moreover, the criteria laid down in the Act for acquiring citizenship does not meet the test of ‘intelligible differentia’. That in cases such as D.S Nakara V. Union of India, MadhuLimye V. Supdt. Tihar Jail Delhi, Sanaboina Satyanarayana V. Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu Electricity Board V. Veerswamy – this position of law has been well settled.
Nationality is not an intrinsic identity. It is something we can change. Buddhism is not a nationality because the nationality of a Buddhists and like that of a Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Judaism, Sikh or person of any religion, is that of the country in which they have citizenship. To align to any religion is an intrinsic identity. It is also something we can change. But to converge religion with nationality – to suggest Buddhism or Jainism is actually a nationality or in the case of India, that an Indian is a Hindu – it is a pathway to justifying theocracy. CAA 2019 protests across the country today, is a revolt against the identity that the government is trying to impose. It is a stand that ‘Indians must now play by the rules and not resort to revolutions. Dr. Ambedkar and various other leaders – who had ‘vision of inclusive India through democratic socialism,’ is seeing to be blinded because of religion-centric agendas. The constitution which is a roadmap to Social Justice has been openly violated. It needs to be understood that Citizenship Law defines a country’s political and constitutional identity and character. Also, a refugee policy cannot be SELECTIVE to either country or religious communities.
North-East and mainly Assam believe, that while the present government seeks to divide refugees on the basis of religion, on the other side, it has turned the clause 6 of the Assam Accord (originally designed to protect the Assamese and other indigenous communities) into a complete non-operational mode. The CAA 2019 if continues for implementation it will have far reaching consequences in the entire eastern India which seeks to erode the very basis of unity centering on language of different nations and nationalities and replace it by so called cultural unity based on religion, also drawing Cultural Hegemony causing a demographic change – if not today – not tomorrow –but someday and completely change the World we live and experience today. The fact that the CAA 2019 gives, “protection to states under the sixth schedule and Bengal Eastern Frontier Act 1873,” it may further be noted that, exemption of the CAB will not help in addressing the concerns because immigrants can apply for citizenship from any state and move to other parts of the country. Influx of the population will definitely have the capacity to impact the lives of people living in the protected areas either directly or indirectly, visibly or invisibly – like the saying ‘No matter how fortified the house is, when the flood occurs, it is bound to be submerged in the rushing water.’ Therefore as some people thought that, ‘Immigrants can only settle in our lands when and only they are given a Permanent Resident Certificate by Village Councils and municipal authorities’, needs to be understood & evaluated in the context of present situation where Illegal Bangladeshi Immigrants have already been living in Nagaland in considerably large number.
The fear of being overrunned by people (who are foreign to the existing cultures, traditions, languages etc) is not only a fear for now but some years down the line or the next generation. The very imagination of being a minority in your own homeland is nauseatic.
Thus, the only hope we have is in the Supreme Court. That the Supreme Court will not allow the implementation of the Act and struck it off completely on the ground that It being violative of the Basic Structure of the Indian constitution in which Secular character of the nation has been protected and fortified.
Degree of Thought is a weekly community column initiated by Tetso College in partnership with The Morung Express. Degree of Thought will delve into the social, cultural, political and educational issues around us. The views expressed here do not reflect the opinion of the institution. Tetso College is a NAAC Accredited UGC recognised Commerce and Arts College. The editors are Dr Hewasa Lorin, Dr. Aniruddha Babar, Dr. Pfokrelo Kapesa, Rinsit B Sareo, Meren Lemtur and Kvulo Lorin.
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