The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), 2019 has been passed by the Lok Sabha on 9 December 2019. The bill proposes to give Indian citizenship to illegal migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan from those belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities. The bill provides a path for providing Indian citizenship to these undocumented individuals who have been living in India for decades
At its core this bill is giving Indian citizenship to these 6 communities for having been persecuted in those countries due to the religion they practice. These communities since independence were “forced or compelled to seek shelter in India due to persecution on the ground of religion”. The bill also aims to protect such people from proceedings of illegal migration.
Cut-off date for Indian Citizenship
The act provides for providing Indian citizenship to all illegal immigrants belonging to the 6 communities who are in the country on or before December 31st, 2014.
The Act also reduced the time period of stay in India for these 6 communities from 12 years to 6 years to qualify for obtaining Indian citizenship.
Who are excluded
Even though there are sections within Muslim community ( Ahmedia’s, Shias) who are persecuted in these countries they have been excluded from the ambit of CAA, it is reasoned that they can choose from one of the many other Islamic nations to seek refuge. The government clearly says that all these communities can apply from Indian citizenship through regular route.
What about Northeast
CAA is not applicable to the areas notified under the sixth schedule of the constitution. These are the tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The CAA bill will also not apply to states that have the inner-line permit system (Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram). CAA covers large parts of Assam. Assamese are protesting about impact to their cultural and linguistic heritage due to regularization of Bengali Hindus migrants from Bangladesh.
The opposition is protesting against bill since it believes that by excluding Muslims the bill is violating article 14 of the constitution ( right to equality of all persons) and that the bill gives preferential treatment to other groups. The opposition and the left cannot accept that Hindus can be a persecuted minority, their definition of minority ends with Muslims.
Obviously, there were organized protests across non-BJP states and attempt made to mount pressure on the government to withdraw the bill. Infact CAA was used by the opposition, left intellectuals and some media houses to tarnish India in the global stage. NYT, Washington Post and other media houses carried out articles penned by Indian authors. Democrat Congress woman Pramila Jaypal is leading the anti India brigade and is moving motions with respect to detentions in JK and giving statements on CAA. Overall a concerted effort is on to pull down India and make life difficult for PM Modi.
JNU, Marxists and agitations -
JNU was established in 1969 by an act of the parliament. Over the years JNU has turned more into a political and ideological theatre than an academic institute of excellence. Today JNU is in the grip of unruly extreme left Marxist crowd. Their only job is to live off on public money and agitate on everything the government proposes. JNU historically is in the grip of left of center student unions but center right student bodies are posing a challenge to this hegemony and hence we see lot of friction on the campus.
Since the elevation of Modi as the prime minister in 2014 JNU has become hyper active. In 2015 they agitated against so called saffronization of education when attempt was made to include Indian culture in curriculum. In 2016 Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid were booked under sedition charges when they organized an event against hangings of Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru. The Delhi government after much dilly dallying recently gave permission to try them under sedition act.
Early this year JNU students agitated against fee hike in the University ( The university fee for hostel, tuition are abysmally low) . One more Jihadi leader from JNU Sharjeel Imam was recently booked under sedition act for inflammatory speeches in Shaheen bhag, he is one of the initial organizers of the Shaheen bhag blockade. JNU has become a hub for anti-national activities and is used by the Congress and Left parties to challenge the government.
The Shaeen bagh conspiracy –
This is a big one and a detailed investigation on the movers and shakers will reveal the real motive and drive behind this drama.
Shaheen bhag has turned into a major hub of anti- CAA agitations. It was occupied predominantly by Muslim women for over 2 months.
On December 14, people started gathering at Shaheen Bagh near Jamia Millia Islamia to oppose CAA and NRC. The protestors included women and children. This protest was completely taken over by left related bodies, Islamists, intellectuals and students. These protestors put barricades and other obstacles causing road blockages and traffic congestions.
Shaheen bhag was a god give gift to the left intellectuals. They fully used the occasion to spread their hatred towards an elected Prime Minister. The protestors had regular visitors from left intelligentsia who delivered divisive speeches and roused passions. The women claim they were there to defend the constitution and right to equality. They were blissfully unaware that the CAA/NRC against which they are protesting is not applicable to them. They were fed by community kitchens organized by various Left groups. Slogans, songs, shouts of democracy and anti-India slogans filled their days and nights. For Intellectuals like Ramachandra Guha, Javed Akhtar and others Shaheen bhag was a great opportunity to further their agenda of lies and polarize the society.
Infact one of the intellectual Arundhathi Roy declared that Muslim community members should lie about their names and addresses when they are asked by the officials. “Kaagaz nahi Dikhayenge” was the slogan. All these protestors gleefully showed their Kaagaz and voted enmasse apparently for the AAP in the recently held Delhi elections. .
The media ( NDTV type partisans kept harping that the protests were spontaneous and the there is not political affiliation. Karan Thapar said that protesters are trying to save the idea of India. He however did not answer why there were flags of DMK, Muslim League, Bhim Army flags seen in the protests? Who was sponsoring the protests, who was providing the food , transport and who spent money on the PR ?
While the protests were supposed to be to exercise democratic rights to reject CAA, the widespread arson and loss of public property in West Bengal, Assam and other states indicates the mind set of the protestors. Their minds polluted by the information fed by left intelligentsia and actions like throwing stones, burning buses etc indicate a complete melt down of the moral high ground they have taken. The UP chief ministers stand of recovering money from the protestors who indulged in arson is laudable. He is really taking the fight back to the arsonists.
The shaheen bagh gathering also had a victim in the death of a 4 month old infant. The mother Nazia who used to the bring the infant to the protests claimed the infant died due to catching cold. The father Arif blamed the government for his child’s death. Photos of the dead infant were used by the protestors to exploit public emotions. This is the lowest point in the protests. Infact the SC asked “Had four-month-old child gone to Shaheen Bagh to protest “.
Shaheen bagh also witnessed events like “ Artists against communalism” and more such drama. All such paragons of democracy strongly objected to progressive bills like triple talaq, abrogation of article 370 etc. They ended up further strengthening the Islamic identity of the protestors not democracy.
Meanwhile the ED has unearthed links between PFI and Shaheen bagh protests. As much as 120 crores has been deposited in cash in about 73 accounts of” PFI. The ED has questioned PFI Delhi head Mohammed Parvez Ahmed and is trying to establish links between PFI, Aaa Admi Party and other antI-CAA organizations.
In a sting operation conducted by Republic TV Republic TV, Sharjeel Imam one of the initial promoters of the Shaheen bagh protests by his own admission accepted that the protests and road-blocking incidents were all conducted to attract attention from 'western media'.
The CAA has shaken the intellectuals so much that one ‘eminent historian’ Irfan Habib heckled and disrupted the speech of Gov on Kerala – Arif Mohammad Khan when he was answering questions in the Indian History congress event in Kerala.
Meanwhile the world is stuck with Covid-19 and our protestors in Shaheen bagh are not getting the media attention and visitors and they are now deciding their next steps. I am sure good sense will prevail and they will all go home safe.
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