On December 11, 2019, Parliament passed amendments to the Citizenship Law that sparked an unprecedented national protest movement against legislation and other government policies that discriminate against Muslims and violate constitutional standards. A year later, after the riots in Delhi and the Covid-19 pandemic ended public sit-ins, Scroll.in considers the impact of this remarkable moment in Indian history.
Exactly one year ago, on December 11, 2019, India’s parliament passed the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. The legislation gave undocumented immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to apply for Indian citizenship, provided they were not. Muslim. For the first time in the history of India, religion became a criterion for citizenship.
Unsurprisingly, the new law quickly came to the center of Indian politics. It sparks nationwide protests, the largest in the history of independent India. It also allowed the BJP to pursue its policy of Hindu nationalism.
Frozen amendment
Despite this crescendo, a year later, the CAA is in a curious state of suspended animation. The law has not yet been implemented by the Modi government, and the rules are yet to be notified. Rules are guidelines for how legislation will be implemented and, based on parliamentary guidelines, must be published within six months of a law entering into force.
Given that the BJP had made the CAA its main political position in 2019, what explains this excessive delay?
The Bharatiya Janata Party itself has cited Covid-19 for the delay. This, however, seems more like a convenient excuse than something genuine. The lockdown itself came four months after the approval of the CAA. Furthermore, during the confinement, the government did not shy away from passing massively disruptive laws such as the agricultural laws. So what’s stopping you from crafting the CAA rules?
Clearly, the real cause of this delay lies elsewhere and ranges from the protests to the complicated nature of what the CAA is trying to accomplish.
Beware of the protest
One possible reason for the delay is the fact that the BJP would be wary of provoking protests again. Since the anti-CAA sit-ins were canceled in March due to the Covid-19 shutdown, the situation has become even more complicated for the government: there is an unprecedented economic downturn, intrusions from China, and powerful farmer protests that they have managed to block. parts of Delhi’s road network. In the Northeast, the CAA has also sparked a revival of nativist sentiment, much of it directed against Bengalis. As a result, in the Northeast, far from pressuring the CAA, the BJP is actively downplaying it.
The other hurdle stems from the complex nature of what the CAA is trying to accomplish in the first place: providing citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants who have entered India illegally.
If the CAA rules end up asking applicants for some proof (for example, country of origin, religious persecution, or communal identity), it could defeat the very purpose of the act, which is to help migrants who do not have documents in the first place. . If, on the other hand, no proof is requested, the CAA could present a situation where anyone in the region could benefit from Indian citizenship.
Scroll.in it had first pointed out these serious contradictions in the proposed legislation three months before its passage.
22 captures
During parliamentary deliberations, India’s internal intelligence agency, the Intelligence Bureau had noted that the law would involve a “strict background check process” for anyone alleging religious persecution in order to “ensure that undesirable elements do not take advantage of these provisions. ” However, it is unclear how any of the conditions established by law can be proven: religion, country of origin or date of entry into India (based on the limit, December 31, 2014).
West Bengal Hindus in West Bengal strongly oppose the move to impose the burden of proof on applicants, who point out that migrants fleeing persecution would not be able to prove their own persecution or even that they come from Bangladesh.
The Intelligence Office has also stated that the migrants would have had to declare persecution as a motive for migration the moment they arrived in India. If they hadn’t, “it would be difficult for them to make such a claim now.” This would immediately reduce the CAA to a dead letter, as only a very small number of migrants have made such a statement.
These contradictions are already in play when India distributes long-term visas, such as the CAA, a provision available only to non-Muslims in India’s neighboring countries. In November alone, a group of Hindu and Sikh refugees decided to return to Pakistan after being defeated by the bureaucracy necessary to remain in India.
“For the last four years, I have applied for the FRRO [Foreigners Regional Registration Office] Jodhpur and the Ministry of the Interior in New Delhi to obtain visas for my wife and children, ”a refugee told the Economic times. “I have given up now and I want to go back.”
If this is the burden of proof with fair visas, what would it be with citizenship documents?
Already citizens
Added to this is the fact that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants in Bangladesh have already acquired all the trimmings of Indian citizenship, such as voter identity cards. This is something that the Intelligence Office itself has pointed out when pointing out the flaws in the CAA. “There will be many others who could have come and may have already obtained citizenship by various means,” the Intelligence Office said, explaining how Hindu migration from Bangladesh normally takes place in India. “They could have obtained [a] passport, ration card. All other documents they could have obtained and may have already registered on the voters list. So, for all practical purposes, they are already citizens of this country. “
Why would a person who already has the paraphernalia of citizenship proceed to reapply for it and subject himself and his family to strict bureaucratic scrutiny as seen in long-term visas?
Due to these factors, the Intelligence Office has already predicted that only a very small number of migrants will benefit from the CAA: around 30,000.
Under attack
However, given how high the BJP had raised the tone of the CAA in 2019, the delay in implementing it is now costing the party politically. This dynamic is developing most acutely in West Bengal. The state will go to the polls early next year and possibly has the largest population of Hindus of Bangladeshi origin in the country, the community that the CAA primarily targets.
Most concerning for the BJP is that Shantanu Thakur, the BJP deputy from the Bongaon border region, has made his concerns public, questioning the delay in the publication of the CAA rules. Thakur is a member of the Matua sect, a religious order followed mainly by Dalits of Bangladeshi origin who hope to benefit from the CAA as the majority have migrated to India through informal means.
“As a representative of the Matuas, I am frequently asked about the CAA. But I have no answer, ”Thakur said in October. “What’s the point of passing the CAA if Matuas doesn’t have citizenship yet?”
With Thakur repeating his objections during the Matua raash festival in late November, the BJP was quick to seek an answer. On December 5, the BJP set a deadline for the CAA rules for the first time, and leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya and Mukul Roy affirmed in Bengal that their implementation will begin in January or February.
Even as the BJP has cracked down on CAA policy for the time being, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee raised the issue on her side during a rally in the Bongaon constituency on Wednesday. Addressing the Matua community, he said the CAA would complicate matters since they were already Indian citizens.
“You have come to this country as refugees. Don’t think this is someone else’s house, it’s yours too, ”Banerjee said. “No need for a new certificate [to prove citizenship]. That is because each of you is a citizen. They are misleading you with this promise of a CAA. “
He then echoed concerns about the burden of proof required: “Once this starts, they will keep asking for documents. They will ask for proof of your age, proof of date of birth. Can you provide? On the other hand, remember that the Bengal government has given you all the rights. You are all citizens. As the Chief Minister of Bengal, I assure you that every matua is a citizen. There is no need to ask anyone for a certificate. ”
Read the full series here.
.
