Every other day, we come across news, reporting incidents of how a minor Hindu girl was abducted by a Muslim, converted to Islam, and married forcefully, in Pakistan; or how a Hindu Mandir was desecrated in Bangladesh.
Such hatred-filled crimes have been happening unabated in the neighbouring countries of India- in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan; because opposed to what was envisioned on the eve of India’s partition, the rights of the minorities in these countries have not been protected. These rights include those of religion and tradition.
A life with zero dignity, no freedom to practice their religion and traditions, and no equal opportunities in the social and political spheres is everyday affair for the minorities living in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. This is because after the signing of the Nehru-Liaquat Pact between the prime ministers of both India and Pakistan, on April 8, 1950, while India kept its promise, its neighbours’ word went for a toss.
This Pact or the Delhi Agreement, as it is called, stated that the religious minorities in their country, would be given the same opportunity to participate in public life, to get positioned in political or other offices, and to serve in the civil and armed forces of the country. The pact added that the minorities will be free to follow their religious practices.
The practical evidence of how the life of religious minorities is drastically different in India and in its neighbours, lies in the demography, and as they say. ‘Demography is Destiny’. In the neighbouring countries, the population of the religious minorities has plummeted from 22 percent to 7 percent; and on the other hand, the population of minorities in India has gone up from 23 to 30 percent.
These demographic patterns are proof enough to realise the despicable fate of the religious minorities in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan; while important offices like those of the President, Vice President, CEC, and the CJI have been held by Muslims in India.
Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, are all officially Islamic states, and hence, the non-Muslim sects of the population in these countries are seen as lesser-humans and as nothing but ‘Kafirs’. Therefore, there arises a need for the CAA or the Citizenship Amendment Act, as this is not merely a legal Act, but a humanitarian step towards the betterment of the life-quality of hundreds of such ‘Kafirs’.
The Citizenship Amendment Act had gone through a standing committee and joint committee, etc. and has hence, respected the democratic parliamentary process. And for those asking, as to why the Act discriminates between the Muslim and non-Muslim sections of the Pakistani, Bangladeshi, or Afghanistan societies, the logic is simple. The Muslims of an official Islamic state cannot be persecuted on the basis of religion, the brunt of being a ‘Kafir’ is not borne by someone who is a Muslim himself/herself.
Additionally, data show that for the 5-year period ending in 2019, more than 560 Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh have come into India. Therefore, it cannot be said that the Indian law discriminates between religions.
Another bogey which is being raised regarding the implementation of CAA is that it will work against the minorities, especially the Muslims of India. The fact is that CAA is about offering Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities from the neighbouring countries, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the Muslims of India per se.
And why should the Muslims of India worry when they are to remain the rightful citizens of this country? Questions are not raised when thousands of illegal Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh or Pakistan, or Rohingyas enter India and create nuisance, changing the demography of the country, and attack the ‘Kafirs’, that is the Hindus of India. Then why is the CAA looked at with disdain?
CAA does not snatch away the citizenship of any community in India, it just offers citizenship to the foreigners who are fighting for a life of dignity and respect in their own country, but are unable to live the same.
