Kerala government ruled by Pinarayi Vijayan has submitted an application to the Supreme Court to stay the Citizenship Amendment Act rules which was recently notified by the Indian government. Kerala has cited that the CAA was rolled out in haste by ignoring certain communities and while including Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Hindus and Buddhists. Kerala has highlighted that CAA has not considered the plight of Rohingyas, Ahemaddias and other sub-communities within Muslims.
Kerala has cited that CAA is rooted in religion based citizenship grant which is discriminatory and arbitrary. “The Rules, 2024 provide a speedy mechanism of grant of citizenship to the persons who are defined as ‘illegal migrants’ under proviso to Section 2(1)(b) of the Impugned Amendment Act. The implementation of the Rules creates religion and the country of origin of the person, criteria for grant of citizenship, and results in classifications based on religion and based on country, which is discriminatory, arbitrary, unreasonable,” the Left Democratic Front government has stated.
Let’s understand CAA in layman’s terms
CAA is aimed at fast-tracking citizenship for refugees from India’s neighboring Muslim nations who had fled their country in the past due to religious persecution and had sought refuge in India. Any citizen of Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan, who has illegally entered Indian borders on or before 31st December 2014 owing to oppression and persecution on religious basis are eligible for citizenship. For such migrant people, instead of being treated as illegal immigrants, CAA aims at granting Indian citizenship. This law is applicable only for those migrants who belong to minority religions in the above said Muslim nations. The minority religions include Sikhs, Jains, Parsis, Hindus, Christians and Buddhists.
Why Muslims are not included under CAA?
The 70+ year history of India’s neighboring Muslim nations have clearly showcased consistent decrease in population of religious minorities from double digit to single digit percentages. These countries, being Muslim nations do not recognize any religion other than Islam. There has been several cases of abductions, forced conversions, third-rate treatment, attacks and crimes both in the past and in the present that has led to significant reduction in the minority population in these three countries. As a result, people belonging to the minority communities in these Muslim countries have fled to India in the past seeking refugee status and protection. These minorities haven’t been able to freely practice their religion. They have not been treated as equals in their own home-country simply based on their faith. There has been discrimination across all strata of life for these minorities. For example, since Hindu customs are invalid in these countries, Hindu marriage is not recognized. There have been cases where a Hindu woman after two years of marriage to a Hindu man, has been forcibly abducted over-night by a Muslim mob, converted to Islam and was forced to marry a Muslim. The actual husband of this woman couldn’t do anything since their marriage is invalid and is not recognized by law. CAA addresses this poor plight and offers Indian citizenship to those minority religion people who fled their countries and entered India. In all this, it would be illogical and counter-intuitive to include Muslims under the umbrella that they could have possibly faced religious persecution in their own Islamic homeland.
Kerala’s concern about Rohingya’s exclusion shows its ignorance
The Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim community has been ousted from their homeland and they have crossed the borders to reach India and Bangladesh. However, both India and Bangladesh wants them deported to Myanmar. The reasons cited are worthy of consideration from a national security perspective. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheik Hasina, in an interview on 2022 has mentioned that the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are a burden for the country. The refugees get involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking and arms conflicts. Also she has said that day by day, such instances are increasing in their camps.
When a Muslim country such as Bangladesh is not ready to provide shelter to the Rohingya community from Myanmar, clearly this is a high risk situation and requires more thought than simply extending CAA benefits. The last thing India wants now is drug trafficking and parallel arms trade in its borders and a million more people who are involved in anti-social and anti-India activities. Kerala and other States that are opposing CAA implementation should first understand the grounds on which certain communities have been excluded instead of blindly voicing shallow concerns forgetting that the country’s interest and people interest should come first when it comes to policy making. Political parties and States should prioritize country’s interests above any local and petty politics.