The confusion over Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is due to the poor communication and marketing of the proposed legislation.
The Narendra Modi government should have promoted the proposed legislation as Citizenship Granting Bill instead of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, which could have denied an opportunity for the left-liberal cabal to commit mischief of making Muslims lose their citizenship.
In fact, this has been the problem of Modi government that it lacks the ability to communicate complex and contentious issues in unclear terms. Perhaps, Amit Shah, who is carrying the burden of passing explosive bills in future, perhaps can take a cue from the Americans, who take extreme care to promote contentious issues in clear and lucid terms.
CAB Explained
CAB aims to grant citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsees and Christians, who were forced to take refuge in India because of religious persecution or fear of persecution in three countries bordering India, namely Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
These persecuted minorities will be granted citizenship after going through a naturalization process.
One of the criteria of naturalization is that the concerned person has to live in India or work in the Central Government for 11 years. So, it reduces this period to six years for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, but still have to go through the process of naturalization.
CAB Controversy Explained
The controversy over this bill mainly is around the exclusion of persecuted Muslims from being granted citizenship in India. The left-liberal cabal, ably supported by the Lutyens media, are labeling it as unconstitutional and anti-secular.
Actually, this bill is more about humane values than secular values. Anyway, the bill proposes to give citizenship to the persecuted, not persecutors.
Of course, Ahmadiyyas and Shias are persecuted in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but at one point of time in history had waged a war against India. In fact, they led the movement for establishment of Pakistan.
They had fought for Pakistan against India during the first war for Kashmir in 1947-48 and influenced the Kashmiri Muslim identity in 20th century.
There also is no reason for Rohingyas, Bengali-speaking people from Myanmar, to be given citizenship because they do not have anything to with India. They slip into India through Bangladesh.
They are known for genocide of Hindus in Myanmar.
If any country, which can give shelter to these people, is Bangladesh. But the government there, is reluctant to take them back as they are security threat to the nation. They ran out of Myanmar for their alleged terrorist activities.
Shias, if given a chance, would prefer to go to Iran, instead of coming to India.
So, there is a strange belief that any persecuted person anywhere is eligible for citizenship in India. This could have been possible in olden days when India was prosperous, but India cannot afford to be magnanimous, because it is facing loads of challenges in making lives of its citizens better.
Some of these persecuted Muslims in these bordering countries can seek citizenship in any of the Islamic country, but Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Parsees, do not have any country, but India. Where should they go? Should they jump to death in the Bay of Bengal or offer themselves to the swords of persecutors?
The Confused Left-Liberal Cabal
This section of the society are a confused lot and many reasons are attached to it.
One is, they are smitten by secularism bug. They brag about day in and day out, in media, textbooks and on other platforms. In fact, their secularism originates from anti-Church movement, which is directly in contrast to Indian secularism, which is rooted in ancient Indian texts.
Second, this brigade is unbelievably ill-informed in many ways or gives an impression of knowing things in bits and pieces.
For example, the US government under Donald Trump had declared giving shelter to the persecuted Christian refugees in various countries, especially Islamic nations. He, in fact, is setting right the wrongs committed by the Americans in the past. In many ways, the US has been inimical to refugees.
American history is full of instances where they had denied refuge to other nationals. One such incident is, when a ship full of Jews was sent back to Germany to face certain death in Nazi camps in 1940.
Such being the situation, the left-liberal cabal has solicited United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to stymie the passing of CAB by the Indian Parliament and pressure Trump administration to impose sanctions on Home Minister Amit Shah.
This attempt is simply laughable because this unscrupulous agency does not have any locus standi to dictate terms to sovereign republics like India and get away with it. They have been silent over American dilly-dallying with Asians on giving citizenship to Asians in the past.
So, the Americans are guilty of excluding people from citizenship. In contrast, CAB is a piece of legislation, which includes people, who are persistently persecuted in their home countries.
Creating Fear Perception
Despite getting shock of their lives, the left-liberal cabal has not yet given up. They are creating a perception that the supreme court would strike down CAB.
They are running around quoting the Constitution saying that Article 14 guarantees equality, which is laughable on two fronts. Article 14 guarantees equality to citizens, but does not say anything about non-citizens.
CAB is a one-time measure to grant citizenship to the persecuted minorities in three bordering countries, which does not mean that other communities or people will not be naturalized at all.
Muslims, in this case, can get citizenship as per the rules subjected to general asylum process. Hence, there is no violation of Article 14 here.
Even Article is applicable only for Indian citizens and not people from other countries. One becomes an Indian citizen after they are naturalized, not before.
Article 21 (right to life) also is applicable to those who live in India, not to them who want to enter India.
So, the left-liberal cabal which is running around holding the Constitution, is just talking out of their hats. They have their own agenda and an axe to grind, but the truth is the bill passed in Parliament is a fait accompli.
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