One night, over a heated phone conversation with my father about India’s Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the trajectory of my country’s politics, my father said, “You should learn to see the difference between a Hindu and a Hindu nationalist.”
Truth be told, it took me a while to understand the weight of his words, given the partisan politics that are changing the sociocultural landscape of the nation.
The CAA allows refugees of all religions from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, except for Muslims, to enter India and become naturalized citizens. This has led to civil unrest and revealed the ugly face of the Indian government’s authoritarian and sectarian motives.
One thing has been common across all conversations I’ve had with Indians about the CAA: people are unhappy with the violence and unrest that has resulted from its announcement.
There are numerous problems with this Citizenship Act. Not only is it outrageous because of what it represents—religious nationalist sentiment to help a political party maintain its stronghold on the nation—but also because it is unconstitutional and undermines the very foundation upon which our forefathers built the country.
First, religion has no place in citizenship: India is supposed to be a sovereign socialist secular democratic republic. The part of the nation that is out on the streets protesting this Act believes that it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu majority government’s attempt to declare the Indian nation Hindu and Hindu only, on the world stage.
While Modi preaches his plans of economic growth and internal development to the international community, the 200 million Muslims in India are getting ready to be uprooted from their homes, and radical Hindus are gearing up to achieve a victory behind which there is no justifiable reason.
Journalists like Faye D’Souza have stepped down from their roles as journalists to be activists to show citizens the CAA is a distraction so the attention of the people can be taken away from the real problems India is facing: a tanking economy, farmers’ suicides and the loss of foreign investment and demand. Religion is a power-play in India now, just as it was 73 years ago when the East India Company instigated the partition of India and Pakistan.
Being a Hindu nationalist means actively supporting Modi’s politics. The police have embodied this spirit across the country, notably at Jamia Millia Islamia, where police brutality injured innocent students for protesting the Act.
Twenty-eight people have died after being targeted by rubber pellets, tear gas and lathis, or thick wooden sticks used by the police to break riot crowds. This begs the question: why is peaceful demonstration being met by state-sponsored police brutality? The justification: anti-nationalism must be suppressed and silenced lest blind nationalism be disrupted. India is no longer a democracy.
The second problem is just that: the CAA has fueled religious conflict between Hindus and Muslims that has existed for decades, and has allowed radical minds to reaffirm their confirmation bias that there is reason for the conflict to exist.
This is only happening because it is these radical minds that brought the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) into office with a majority. An exclusionary policy against one specific religion cannot be justified, especially not by a government that has historically furthered Hindu radicalism and encouraged religious intolerance.
The third problem is that this move by the government is unconstitutional. That says enough about why the Act needs to be repealed and citizenship needs to be available to everyone despite their religion. I don’t think I need to explain any further why this is a problem.
The future of the country is ominous. If the economy continues at its current path where foreign investors are already withdrawing rapidly, the agricultural, factory and mechanical industries will die out and leave the country desperate for foreign aid.
My head hangs in shame today because I no longer know if I belong to a country where people are judged by their religion and not by their character and value as simply people.
But, a solution exists. A government made by the people has turned out to be a mistake, but it can still be for the people. The Citizenship Amendment Act must be repealed so peace can return. Students need to feel safe once again and India needs to be a place of which all fleeing persecution should be able to be citizens.
Featured image from file.
