News articles and news websites keep notifying me on the atrocities taking place across India due to The Citizenship Amendment Act.; which makes it easier for non-muslim migrants from India’s three Muslim-majority neighbours to become citizens of India. They need to be residents of India for 12 months, as well as for 11 of the previous 14 years. But illegal migrants will be put in jail or deported under the Foreigners Act, 1946 and Passport Act of 1920.
If you read, research and think about it, it does not seem valid. Article 14 of the Constitution of India has been violated. The article grants us the right to equality. The Act, as the government states, is aimed at giving a dignified life to the people who suffered religious persecution for decades, by granting Indian citizenship to them.
So, why are protests being held across the country ever since it was introduced in Parliament? A group of young women had to form a human shield to protect their friend who was dragged by the police and beaten with a lathi! It is unconstitutional and divisive.
According to the spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “CAA is fundamentally discriminatory in nature.”
We vote for a government for the progress of India through a path that is righteous. If the government, for the people, by the people and of the people, violates the basis on which India is built, what is left of India then?
They keep saying that it is aimed at solving the human rights problems of the minority communities. If so, then why are the methods that are used so unconstitutional? Why are they ignoring what the public is saying ? Why? The Constitution of India declares India as a secular country. Tell me, does this Act not violate the constitution?
The more power we give to them, the more cruel and corrupt they become. They do anything and everything according to their benefit. People of India suffer due to such ignorance. The country is burning. We need to stand up against those who are adding fuel to this power.
Raise your voices because you still have your freedom. It is your duty to restore India to its original glory. Muslim students and innocents are being targeted. They are being beaten black and blue or beaten to death. Protests are taking place in Kolkata, Delhi and Assam. People are coming together to stand up against this state violence.
Protests are being held everywhere. We have to raise our voices against it. People are growing afraid of the government. We are on the brink of losing our rights to freedom of speech and expression. We are scared we will be shot or killed if we are seen protesting or talking against them.
Protests are also taking place in fear of the fact that, if illegal migrants are regularised under CAA, it will instantly pose a threat to the cultural and linguistic identity of the state of Assam.
Founders of the Constitution of India were committed to a secular state, where citizens irrespective of religion, enjoyed all the freedom and rights mentioned under the “Directive Principles of State Policy.” We have studied this throughout our school lives and they are totally true. So, the logic of implementing CAA, instantly collapses, due to the fact that Afghanistan was not part of pre-partition India.
Today, it is not happening to you, but be ready. The next moment, it could be you. Be ready to fight. Stand up to what is wrong.