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| Source:huffingtonpost.in |
The Indian government has recently made changes to a law
that allows it to regulate who is given citizenship in India. First passed in
1955, the legislation aimed for better control in giving Indian citizenship to
members of communities who were in a state of possible persecution from the
neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. This
ruling made no references to religion as a factor for eligibility as a new
citizen
Now under the ruling of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) the
legislation has been amended and the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)
clearly targets Muslims, both living in and out of India.
Essentially this is nothing but a discriminatory bill in
efforts to fulfil the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of a completely right-wing
Hindu India. Critics have likened Modi to US President Donald Trump as both have
now made their views towards Muslims in their own countries very clear.
Trump and Modi have openly supported each other for many years,
based on the fact that they share a common opposition in Muslim communities in
respects of controlling which ethnic communities are deemed acceptable for
their own respective countries.
By actively targeting Muslims in more than one occasion, is
there really much of a difference between US white supremacists and Hindu
nationalists?
The wider effects of the CAA? Havoc across India.
India’s tourism industry is now majorly suffering due to the
consequences of violent protests against the CAA across the country. Every day
since the amendment, tensions between protesters and police
dramatically increase. Many countries have now issued travel cautions for parts
of India where protests are most disruptive.
There have been reports of at least 15 deaths in the state
of Uttar Pradesh, home to the city of Agra and its prized possession the Taj
Mahal. As a consequence, the state has suffered a 60% decline of profits in the
tourism industry. The BJPs solution is simply to place restrictions on internet
services in Agra so as to soften the conditions in the city and hopefully stop
this decline.
Despite such consequences, the Uttar Pradesh state is continuing
to look into the possibility of renaming Agra, having already changed many
location names with Mughal connotations within the state. The city name
Allahabad, referenced the Mughal Emperor Akbar of the 16th century,
has since been renamed. The Mughal Sarai rail station has also been
renamed and more changes are in planning.
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| Source:Dhiraj Singh |
This now concerns rewriting India’s history, almost erasing anything
with Muslim significance so that nothing but the Hindu faith lies at the centre.
As town and cities are overwritten, any Muslim citizen that is in India
essentially becomes disenfranchised.
With regards to the incident in Nanakana Sahib, where a Sikh
gurdwara has been threatened and the location has been renamed Ghulama-e-Mustafa,
it is likely that the BJP government will highlight this in its next rally. But
rather than show their support for the Sikh faith, the BJP will likely use it
their advantage in defending the CAA. Should this manifest, how can the Sikh
minority believe that the BJP truly do have their best interests as a priority?
How can the Sikh minority believe that their government also represents what is
right for them?
Following the CAA, it is likely that conditions will only
become more hostile across all states. With lockdowns in Kashmir, little
evidence of support for ethnic minorities in India, and now this, India’s image
has become very negative. The BJP government has shown little commitment to
India’s secularism and are instead attacking it.
Thank you for reading!
Aman
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