Given that a law passed by Parliament in 2019 is only now reaching the implementation stage, it is worth asking: will the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) be implemented well now, either in letter or spirit?
The chief ministers of two states, Kerala and West Bengal, already have the CAA, and Assam and the northeast are bitterly divided on this point.
The latter claim that the National Registry of Citizens (NRC) is more applicable to them in order to hold an ethnic-demographic merit over “foreigners”.
A little recent history will give us an idea of CAA’s customers in the coming months. The CAA was halted almost without delay after its enactment, as Muslims protested violently in the streets, vehemently supported by minority-dependent politicians. vote.
The road blockades in Shaheen Bagh showed us how far the government was willing to go to avoid a confrontation with minorities in the streets. This only ended when Covid-19 made it less difficult for law enforcement to shut down the protest site.
Put simply, when a party is willing to use violence and intimidation to get what it wants, we have to ask ourselves to what extent the government with the AAC will go beyond symbolism, even if the rules have already been set.
The law, which aims to speed up citizenship for persecuted minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India on December 31, 2014, is a half-baked measure.
The reason: the persecution of Hindus, Sikhs and other minorities is over. Why have a law that only compensates for a slight delay in the past, but will allow minorities to continue to suffer in the long run in those Islamist states and/or theocratic societies?
Another fact worth acknowledging is that the subliminal explanation for why Muslims oppose the AAC is that it would amount to acknowledging that their own Ummah is persecuting Hindus in their neighborhood. In Islam and Christianity, the persecution and martyrdom complex is important in inciting aggression. within the network opposed to non-believers.
The CAA, which seeks to debunk the myth that Muslims are persecuted everywhere, poses a direct risk to its ability to draw crowds into the streets and intimidate non-Muslims into giving them what they want, whether that is a justifiable explanation or not. The same explanation for why no prominent Muslim is willing to settle for the evidence they can see before their eyes: that many mosques are built on Hindu places of worship.
Let us now take a look at how, in spite of everything, AAC was brought to the implementation level today. Over the past four years, the government has for the first time invoked the (reasonably real) excuse of Covid to delay the advancement of CAA rules. In fact, it ended two years ago, but the government remained lazy until three months ago.
The opposition believes this was done for two reasons: the first is to distract the attention of the headlines from the revelations about who won and from which corporations in the form of election bonds; and, secondly, to allow the BJP to have influence in West Bengal, where several Hindu immigrant communities in Bangladesh see it as a ray of hope for them.
Even assuming any of those criticisms are valid, the real explanation for why the CAA regulations came so late and so close to the announcement of election dates is another. There is deep fear within the government about the ability of secular Muslims. organize effective street resistance.
With the announcement of the elections, this happens, as law and order are subject to the jurisdiction of the Electoral Commission. The delayed announcement of the CAA regulations plays a similar role to Covid and Delhi riots in helping the government end the Shaheen. Bagh protests after February 2020.
The undeniable reality, which will never be said out loud, is that the government doesn’t need anyone else on the streets right now. He hopes that a strong showing in the polls in Lok Sabha will give him the political clout to deal with this situation. street challenge, as it happens.
There are some glaring truths worth noting. The AAC is the mandatory minimum to assure neighbouring Hindus that India can be counted on to protect their interests. The real one is to grant an unlimited right of return to any persecuted Hindu, Jain or Sikh. or Buddhist of Indian origin, just as the Jew is entitled to Israeli citizenship.
The right of return will have to be enshrined in the Constitution, which is incapable of protecting Indian interests in India, let alone in the neighbourhood. As the only country with a sizable Hindu population, the case for a Hindu Rashtra capable of defending Hindu rights is stronger than ever.
Otherwise, they will not be able to fight a well-oiled global ummah or the secular-Christian alliance opposed to Hindu India. The CAA is just the first test of the BJP’s ability to forge a broader coalition of Hindu castes and communities to fight for an equivalent. rights. If you fail with AAC, you will also fail at the larger goal.
Here’s the irony of it all. A law intended to help persecuted Hindus and minorities is itself subject to unlawful attacks and unlawful attacks through the exercise of a minority veto in the streets. A law that must be defended is not a law at all.
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Jagannathan is the editorial director of Swarajya. Tweet about @TheJaggi.
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