A New India

How lucky we are, sheltered by roofs which are firm and the unshakable knowledge of our identity. To know our homeland, to be secure in our understanding of a home which remains unchanged with each new dawn. If the past few days have taught me anything, its that not everyone is this lucky.

Your address.
Your nationality.
Your citizenship.
Your livelihood.

If you didn’t feel threatened about any of these in the past few months, it is highly probable that you are non-Muslim, residing far away from the North-East mountain cities.

I did not, either. With each passing day, I was more and more bewildered by reading news reports of shutdowns, curfews & internet blockades. To me, safe here in the peaceful streets of Bangalore, the sudden (or so it seemed) eruptions of violence in sleepy states like Assam was incomprehensible.

But as with any disruption, this has not been sudden. This simmering unrest has a long history, almost back to the times when parts of our entire nation started becoming an English Colony, piece by piece.

Here are a few questions I had, and the answers I found –

What is the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019?
The process of attaining an Indian Citizenship by foreign nationals was straight forward. Naturalization – a concept which necessitates you to be resident in a place for a specified time in order to become eligible for being called a citizen of that place – required a person to reside in India for a period of 11 years before applying for citizenship.

The CAB, 2019 has made an insertion in the Citizenship Act, verbatim as follows –

“Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act;”.

There is an amendment too –

‘Provided that for the person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community in Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, the aggregate period of residence or service of Government in India as required under this clause shall be read as “not less than five years” in place of “not less than eleven years”.’.

What is the National Register of Citizens?
Simply worded, NRC is a log of Indian citizens, currently updated only for the state of Assam.

Assam, since the time it became part of the British Colony in 1826, has been home to a slow but gradually rising migrant population from Bengal (which then included the not yet formed Bangladesh). Illegal migration saw a drastic rise during Independence and Partition, when people fearing turmoil and persecution fled to the state. A Census was carried out in 1951 which resulted in the first NRC to be ever created – the hope being that illegal migration would be detected and controlled.

The next two decades saw East Pakistan go through an uneasy calm, a gradual rising in demand for a separate country, culminating in the beginning of Bangladesh’s war for Independence on 25^th March 1971.

War is never easy on anyone. Millions of people fled to India, seeking refuge. While mass genocide and rape ravaged East Pakistan, India had to suddenly make place for migrants in an already teeming, populous land.

In this situation, an updated register of citizens was a dire necessity and the clamor for one can he heard throughout Assam’s history in the past few decades. This saw fruition only in the year 2013 when Supreme Court ordered the NRC in Assam to be updated.

Residents of Assam had to prove their right to citizenship by submitting several documents like LIC policies, passports, land title deeds, etc. which were issued before 24^th March 1971. They were exempt from submitting documents if they could prove that their names were included in the earlier 1951 Census data, or in Electoral Rolls published before 24^th March 1971. The descendants of Assam citizens had to prove their bloodline through birth certificates.

Upon completion of this massive exercise of documenting citizens, a final NRC was published on 31^st August 2019. It was found that 19 Lakh people were excluded from the NRC due to various reasons.

Why is Assam protesting?
One primary reason for protests across Assam is due to the reason that there is now scope for several illegal migrants who entered Assam before 1971 (and their descendants) to become legal citizens. They just need to prove that their names were included in electoral rolls published before 24^th March 1971. Nobody likes losing their indigenous identity, to become a minority in their own land and mutely witness an erosion of inherited legacies. The CAB is a further injury in their eyes, through which minority migrants can become legal citizens within 6 years. While some tribal areas of Assam are exempt from provisions of CAB, a vast majority comes within the Amendment’s ambit. It doesn’t help that 19 lakh people found themselves excluded from the NRC.

Why is India protesting?
Setting aside the incendiary violence which in all probability is coloured by political motives, there is still a genuine cause for concern. Many people believe – and you need to decide whether you are one among them – that the NRC & CAB together is unconstitutional.

Our Preamble gets it right, when with these words it sets a noble vision of a unified nation –

We, the people of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic and to secure to all of its citizens;

• Justice social, economic and political;
• Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
• Equality of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all;
• Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the nation;

This is the lofty beginning of an incredible charter on which the identity of our nation stands. The CAB, in the pretext of protecting minorities from Islam dominant nations, aims to make it easier for immigrants of only a set of religions to become Indian citizens. When viewed with the knowledge of the current Government’s blatant right-wing views and ideals, it appears that they are surely inching towards achieving an unvoiced aim of creating one Hindustan. Where India as we know it will cease, and a new India will emerge. One with more radical views, one which is more confrontational, one which will be more intolerant. And one which will certainly not be a Secular, Democratic Republic.

Our Home Minister has not been shy in vociferously expressing his determination to establish a nation-wide NRC. While it might not seem like an alarming proposal, we must pause and allow history to guide us. When Hitler’s Germany started its own version of NRC, people were asked to prove their Aryan ancestry. The citizen list was then used to systematically identify and ethnically cleanse Germany of Jews. Common German’s at that time were unaware about the lengths to which the list would be used and the atrocities which it would unfold.

While it is easy to dismiss such parallel conjectures as far-fetched and illogical, considering the latest policies of the Government in the above light raises many questions.

Is the NRC an urgent necessity in the rest of the Country, where the issue of illegal immigration is in no way as pressing as draughts, unemployment and floods?
Will NRC justify the massive expense which it will entail, when we are yet to completely enroll the populace under Aadhaar?
If the purpose of enacting CAB was indeed to provide shelter to persecuted minorities, why are minorities like Rohingya Muslims (who were forced to flee their home country of Myanmar) not covered in the Amendment?
What was the purpose in reducing the current time limit of 11 years to 5 years for other than Muslim refugees, if not to reduce the percentage of a particular religion within the country?

Being a Hindu, you might not understand what the ruckus is about. You might even wholeheartedly agree with the Government’s actions. Or you might even be indifferent.

But we are living in a regime which enjoys an unprecedented majority in the Parliament and seems convinced that it alone has the correct views. It is a Government which is only too happy to impose communication blocks at the first sign of trouble. Only too happy to strip citizens of their basic rights in the face of their dissent. A Government which doesn’t encourage dialogue, which is hellbent in rushing important and path changing laws in a murky, suspicious manner. A State which seems to utilize enforcement institutions as its lackeys, without restraint or respect.

When a dreamer like me, who is more content in a fictional world wielded by words, feels compelled to voice an opinion, the reality is something alarming. Democracy exists only when voices, opposing and unified, are heard and not silenced. When one man’s views are mercilessly imposed, without an invitation for discussion, you should be worried.
Very worried.