India has granted citizenship to the first group of people under a controversial new law. This law has been criticized That he discriminates once morest Muslims.
14 people were granted citizenship during the general elections held on Wednesday, even as people living in neighboring states of Bangladesh are protesting once morest the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Implementation of CAA before the last general elections of 2019 Prime Minister Narendra Modi And it was one of the key promises made in the manifesto of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
Federal Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla handed over Indian citizenship certificates to people as the recipients took oath following verifying their documents, the government said. The Ministry of Interior did not provide any details regarding their identity.
The law, which came into effect in March, gives refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan the right to apply for Indian citizenship who arrived in India before December 31, 2014, but only if they are from these Muslim-majority countries. I belong to minority religious groups, ie Hindu, Parsi, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Christian.
The Modi government claims that the law, which was introduced in 2019 but was not implemented immediately due to violent protests at the time, is ‘in favor of refugees’. The government faced a backlash and communal violence in Delhi and other cities that left dozens dead.
Modi’s critics say the law violates India’s secular constitution. He has accused the right-wing government of targeting the Muslim community and systematically discriminating once morest them to push the party’s ‘Hindu first’ agenda.
Harish Kumar, a Hindu refugee from Pakistan who has lived in Delhi for over a decade, told news agency ANI, ‘It’s like being reborn.’
“If a person doesn’t have rights, then what’s the point, now we can move forward in education, jobs,” he said.
Since the implementation of the law this year, there have been a few incidents of violence in Indian states bordering Bangladesh, where people fear that the CAA-proposed India-wide National Register of Citizens (NRC) ), in combination with this, may lead to discrimination once morest and possible deportation of persons belonging to Muslim and tribal communities.
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The northeastern state of Assam has been reeling from unrest ever since the National Register of Citizens was implemented, allegedly to weed out those who came to India illegally, defined following 1971. Crossing the border was done as any person migrating into Assam. The law requires residents to produce documents to prove their citizenship or risk deportation.
Speculation regarding a similar rule sparked protests in the beautiful state of Meghalaya last month, where a 35-year-old and a 24-year-old man were found dead following protests by the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) once morest the implementation of the CAA. were opposed to
A resident of Echamati, 30 km from Cherrapunji city, told The Independent, ‘The situation here has been tense for a long time. People may not say it out loud but everyone is afraid of a possible violent conflict.’
Violence broke out in other parts of the state when KSU members demonstrated outside a local police station demanding the release of their members who were arrested following the killings. Police in the state capital Shillong claimed five masked and helmeted men hurled a petrol bomb at Mawlai police station and set fire to a police vehicle.
Police in Meghalaya say there was no connection between the anti-CAA protests and the deaths. East Khasi Superintendent of Police Rituraj Ravi said, ‘The situation is calm. We have asked all groups to maintain peace. Additional police presence for the ongoing elections has also helped.’
Since the passage of the Citizenship Act by Parliament in 2019, Meghalaya has witnessed several incidents of killings and violence once morest non-tribals.
In West Bengal, where the Chief Minister of the state Mamata Banerjee has strongly opposed the law, with a 31-year-old man committing suicide in March shortly following the CAA was implemented.
The police, quoting the family, claimed that Debashesh Sengupta ‘suicided himself out of fear of the CAA.’
The victim’s father, Tapan Sen Gupta, told reporters that his son was worried regarding “how he would prove his citizenship and often asked what he would do if his citizenship was revoked.”
Banerjee claims her government will oppose ‘anything that discriminates once morest people,’ but so far neither the state nor the central government has done much to address public concerns.
Analysts say the law was enacted in part to gain support from the immigrant community in West Bengal from the former East Pakistan. Many members of this Mutwa community, spread across the state, had pledged allegiance to the BJP, relying on its promise of citizenship in 2019.
However, the community now stands at a crossroads following community leaders advised its members to refrain from submitting citizenship applications due to the absence of necessary documents proving their previous residential addresses in present-day Bangladesh.
Federal Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday assured the people of Mutwa community that they will be granted citizenship.
The 1.8 million-strong community in West Bengal has the power to sway votes in nearly half a dozen Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) seats in the state.
Voting began in India on April 19 for the seven-phase elections for which Narendra Modi began his campaign by showcasing his economic record, governance and popularity. But he has notably reversed course following the expected voting turnout in the first phase fell, instead accusing the main opposition Congress of being pro-Muslim in speeches at rallies.
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2024-07-11 20:09:42