CAA

Recently both of houses of Parliament passed the Citizen Amendment Bill (CAB) and after it was approved by President it became Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) 2019. After the bill became Act, for last 8 days there have been tremendous opposition to Act in certain parts of the country, and the few opposition parties are saying that this Act is against the Constitution and without realising what the Act/Bill is about, the people have come  on roads, after being instigated by the so called secular opposition parties.

Now what the Bill/Act says in nutshell- that any Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Catholic and Parsee, from the countries Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan cross over to India as refugee who is being persecuted in those countries on religious basis can be granted India citizenship after staying in India for minimum 6 years as refugee. It means indirectly that any Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Catholic and Parsee, have come to India on or before 2014 are eligible for Indian citizenship. Now problem of these opposition parties is that the present govt has not included Muslims from these countries. Govt answer to that all these countries are Islamic countries and therefore question of persecution based on religion basis does not arise, and secondly there are more than 50 Islamic countries in the world, and if any Muslim wants he/she can take refuge in these countries, why India.

The main problem is that during the last few decades there have been illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries, specially Bangladesh which include Hindus as well as Muslims. Hindus have entered because of religious persecution, and Muslims because there is/was not enough work there. Then there is problem of Rohingyas Muslims from Myanmar who have entered India illegally via Bangladesh, and there have been slow but continuous influx of Hindus from Pakistan and Afghanistan. The earlier govt at centre failed to address the problem of huge influx of people, who are living on our national resources, and working here at the cost of jobs for Indian citizens.

Now after the partition the population of Hindus in Pakistan has been reduced from 27 % to less than 5%, because of religious persecution and forced conversion. And similar is the case of Bangladesh after 1971. The problem is, there are more than 50 countries in the world who are Islamic, but there is no country in the word which calls itself Hindu nation, India is the only country where more than 80% of the citizen are Hindus (including Sikhs, Buddhist & Jains). So the present govt feels that these people should be allowed in India if they feel religiously persecuted in the above mentioned countries in the Act, and what is wrong in that. They have included Parsees in this act  as for few centuries Parsees have adopted India as their own country, as the history indicated even Afghanistan was earlier part of Indian territory , so the govt thought the Catholics living in Pakistan/Bangladesh/Afghanistan, who are basically of Indian origin, have also been included in this Act.

Now some other facts :

1 Muslims, wherever they have taken refuge/immigration till date, when they become large chunk of population in the those countries then they start demanding  rights as per their religious beliefs, and Sharia law.

2 You all must be aware what is happening in the countries across Europe, who have given refuge to Muslims due to unrest in middle east region. Belgium is the latest election, where Muslims after winning some seats in elections their proclaimed that their aim is to make Belgium as Muslim country. Trouble also brewing in another countries also, and the prominent among them is Britain and France. Even USA is facing similar type of situation. Only countries who have refused Muslims to practice their religion openly are Australia & Russia, who have bluntly told Muslims that if you want ro stay in our country then you have to follow our law. Does by saying this Australia has become non secular country?

3 By passing this Act, India is not becoming a Non Secular country. Hindus by nature are secular and will always remain secular. If Hindus were not secular than Moghuls and British could not have ruled them, and what was Hindus fault, they allowed Moghuls and British people to enter India for business/trade.

4 Hindus never propagated the two nation theory. It was first started in late 19^th century by a Muslim leader, and afterwards in first half of 20th century it was adopted by Muslim League, which was political party in United India. So actually 2 nation theory was thrusted by Muslims with the help of British, on Hindus.

5 Now there are Indian Muslims, who always say that our forefathers never migrated to Pakistan and we the Indian Muslims were not part of 2 nation theory. But the fact says otherwise, during the later rule of British Raj, British have created some Muslim constituencies where most of the people belonged to Muslim community. And here before partition happened, Muslim league, who was propagating 2 nation theory, always won each and every election with more than 90 % votes in their favour. Which only means that the forefathers of present Indian Muslims voted for Muslim league. But after partition they never migrated to Pakistan, for the reasons known to them.

6 Now some politicians from opposition parties are saying the Act is divisive, and this word has been picked by all pseudo secular/intellectuals to remain/come to limelight. Yesterday I was watching a TV channel, which was interviewing some youths after  they were returning from rally at Jantar Mantar. When the person taking interview asked them why they were protesting, and none of them could say what was the reason, some said there some NRC, and some said because of some bill which will affect us. No body knew the exact details of the Bill/Act. Now where does this Act show that Indian Muslim citizens are going to be affected by this Act.

7 Now if the India Muslims think, that if other Muslims cross over from neighbouring countries to India then the illegal migrants also should be allowed Indian citizenship, because so many Muslims are already staying in India. To these Muslim friends, I would like to say only this “ Kya India Ne Hi Theka Liya Hua Hai Sub Padosi Desh Ke Muslim Ka”. No friends it can not go for ever in the country. Even after acceptance of 2 nation theory our leaders of that time were magnanimous  to accept the Muslims who did not go to Pakistan including the area now known as Bangladesh, at that time. So if some Muslim’s forefather decided to settle in Pakistan/Bangladesh after partition, that Muslim has no liberty to cross over to India once again and demand Indian citizenship. Secondly Hindus and other communities never migrated from India at the time of partition,  and they decided to stay even in Pakistan/Bangladesh with a hope that nothing will happen to them. But because of religious persecution if they are taking refuge in India, they can be granted Indian citizenship as per conditions of this act.

8 There are two areas in the country, which are going to have some affect from this Act. The areas are North East and West Bengal. The protest in North East states is justified as the most the Hindus migrants who have crossed over from Bangladesh are settled there. And in Bengal, most of the Muslims who have crossed over are settled. People in North East feel that once given the citizenship, the limited resources of the states will  be burdened. But in West Bengal, the CM who is more friendly and sympathetic  with Muslims is afraid of losing her vote bank, and hence her party workers on her order are protesting. This vote bank politics have ruined our country.

In the end friends, what do you say.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

19^th Dec 2019