A Surya Prakash By

The continued opposition to the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) passed by Parliament and the preparation of the National Population Register (NPR) by several state governments that are antagonistic to the present dispensation at the Centre and their threatening postures towards the Union government do not augur well for our Republic and constitutional well-being.

The CAA, which is now the law of the land, has amended the Citizenship Act to provide succour to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who, because of religious persecution in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, crossed over to India before 31 December 2014 and are living in our country without any legal status. These nations are Islamic states, meaning Islam is the state religion there. Thus, automatically, unlike in India, adherents of all religions other than Islam, are second- or third-class citizens. Therefore, all non-Muslims are constitutionally inferior and this has conditioned the majority to ill-treat the religious minorities in these nations.

Since Partition, Hindus and other minorities have been subjected to all forms of harassment and cruelty in these nations, forcing them to either convert to Islam or flee. As a result, the population of Hindus in undivided Pakistan, which was around 24% in the mid-1940s, has crashed to just 1.7%. Similarly, in Bangladesh, which was earlier East Pakistan, the percentage of Hindus has crashed from 30% to about 7%. This should also answer the question as to why the Muslims are left out of the list of persecuted minorities under the CAA.

First of all, they are not “minorities” and secondly, it is laughable to say that Muslims are “persecuted” by an Islamic state. The CAA seeks to offer some help to these subjugated minorities and to only those who entered India before the cut-off date. In other words, this is not an open-ended scheme to allow for future migrants from these nations. Nor does it have anything to do with citizens of India, whether Hindu or Muslim.

Given this reality, the attempt by the Communists, Congress and others opposed to the BJP to spread the word that the CAA is against the Muslim citizens of India is blatantly false. This Act seeks to provide succour to persecuted religious minorities in Islamic states and this is in line with Bharatiya dharma and our constitutional dharma as well. Those opposing this are abetting the non-secular, non-democratic behaviour of the citizens of Islamic nations across India’s border, and will thereby lose the moral right to talk about these values in India.

The Communists and Congress are also spreading canards about the NPR, the compilation of which is critical for policy formulation in the country. Both these parties have been roundly rejected in the last parliamentary election in May 2019. In fact, although the Communists hog 30-40% of the airtime on television debates, public support for these parties has fallen dramatically. In the 2004 Lok Sabha election, the two main Communist parties had a combined vote share of 7.07%. In 2014, this was down to 4.07%, and in 2019, it crashed to 2.36%. So, it appears JNU is their last bastion, and in combination with the Congress, these two parties are seeking to avenge their electoral humiliation by whipping up passions against the government that has received overwhelming public support.

Meanwhile, the Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan Assemblies have all passed resolutions asking Parliament to repeal the CAA.Three other developments in recent weeks are extremely worrying. One, several chief ministers have declared that they will not implement the CAA in their states; two, the disgraceful decision to bring children to protest sites and to get them to raise foul, abusive slogans against a duly elected prime minister; and three, telling the Muslims not to respond to queries from enumerators who are tasked to prepare the NPR.

Every chief minister and politician in the country who has declared that CAA will not be implemented in his or her state must immediately withdraw that statement, because it will amount to challenging the supremacy of the Constitution. Parliament is empowered to make laws regarding citizenship, naturalisation and aliens under item 17 in the Union List and no state or individual has the right to say that the law made by Parliament will not be implemented. If the CMs persist with this line, it will amount to a constitutional breakdown and the consequences will be terrible because the overwhelming majority in this country swears by the Constitution and will not allow a few malcontents in our politics to disturb its rhythm and balance.

Secondly, the decision by protestors to bring kids to protest sites and to get them to hurl abuses at PM Narendra Modi is another act of brinkmanship which no reasonable person will support. Lastly, asking Muslims to boycott the NPR is equally risky, because any attempt to stymie the working of a duly elected government at the federal level will have its own implications. Those who are encouraging such tendencies are treading a dangerous path. It is indeed unfortunate that one has to make such a gloomy prognosis about what lies ahead, around the time the nation is celebrating Republic Day. The majority has to be alert to ensure that the Constitution and the democratic way of life remain undisturbed.