The Citizenship Amendment Act (Bill) demonstrations, also known as CAA Protest or CAB Protest, happened after the Indian government approved the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) on December 12, 2019. The action generated considerable national and international opposition to the legislation and its accompanying ideas for a National Register of Citizens (NRC). On December 4, 2019, demonstrations began in Assam and quickly expanded to neighbouring states such as Delhi, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura. Protests erupted quickly around the country, with protestors’ concerns varying.
The CAA makes amendment in the Indian Citizenship Act to allow illegal migrants from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan who are Jain, Sikh, Hindu, Parsi, Buddhist, or Christian and arrived in India prior to 2014 as a result of religious persecutions. The law makes does not mention about Muslims or other populations who have left the same or neighbouring nations. The law makes no mention of Rohingyas who came from Myanmar or Tibetan refugees who are seeking refuge in India. The planned National Register of Citizens (NRC) will serve as an official record of all lawful Indian citizens. The citizens of this country have to produce a specific set of papers by a certain cut-off date in order to be included in the CAA.
This amendment by the Govt. of India has been extensively criticised for discriminating against Muslims on the grounds of religion. Protesters opposing the amendment demands that it be repealed and that the countrywide NRC be halted. The law has alarmed Indian Muslims and poor Indians, who fear that they may be made stateless, putting them in jail. They are also afraid that the NRC’s is a part of some bureaucratic exercise, in which they will be required to verify their citizenship in order to be included in the registry, would have an impact on all citizens. Protesters across all over from the country have spoken out against the police crackdown and violence on the protests happening against CAA-NRC in colleges.
Protesters in north-eastern states like Assam and Meghalaya are opposing granting the Indian citizenship to any refugee or immigrant, regardless of religion, since they think it would upset the region’s balance of their demography, which will result in a loss of political rights, land and culture. They are also afraid that it would encourage additional migration from countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh and this would violate the Assam Accord which was a prior deal struck with the central government on refugees and migrants.
The government of Kerala on January 14 petitioned in the Apex Court in order to challenge under Section 131 of the Constitution, which gives the Supreme Court the authority to resolve issues between states and the Government of India. In their plea, the government of Kerala described the measure as a “violation of India’s secular constitution” and accused government of India splitting the country along religious lines. The apex Court has scheduled a hearing on CAA-related petitions on January 22. On 22 January, the students’ organization called for a total closure of the colleges and universities in the north-east, seeking the court to declare CAA as illegal violative of rights.
However, when it was seen in conjunction with the NRC exercise, the CAA is more than just an amendment to provide a safe haven for persecuted minority, in which none of them are of Muslim. It would be more accurate to stat that the CAA supports oppressed non-Muslim minority. The NRC programme is being carried out in order to locate illegal migrants from neighbouring nations, especially Bangladesh and Pakistan (which also has the third largest Hindu population after Nepal and India). The NRC-CAA merger might have the following effects: A document-less Muslim in India who is living in India for decades is more likely to be labelled as an unlawful migrant, but without the CAA remedy that a Bangladeshi migrant who is a Hindu would have. Wouldn’t this possibility create a sense of fear in the hearts of Indian Muslims?
The CAA and NRC acts combined have also emerged as a wound to the essence of our Constitution. Even if NRC doesn’t apply in the country, the damage to our fundamental rights has been done, which includes the right to practice religion. It would cause the ‘mischief of Partition’ to travel across decades. As a constitution framer said, ‘I see no reason why a Muslim who is a citizen of this country should be deprived of his citizenship at the commencement of this Constitution.’ The CAA-NRC does precisely that by creating a sense of fear among Muslim citizens of India without documents of their citizenship rights and about their ability to remain in their religion. CAA and NRC may not have the endorsement of a majority of Indians but we have no way of knowing that unless we conduct a referendum.
More importantly, the CAA-NRC alliance inflicts a severe scar on the fabric of the constitution. Even if the NRC exercise does not take place, numerous basic rights, including the ability to profess religion, would have been harmed. It would spread the mischief of Partition’ over decades. ‘I see no reason why a Muslim who is a citizen of this nation should be stripped of his citizenship at the outset of this Constitution,’ remarked a constitution framer. However, the CAA-NRC achieves just that by instilling anxiety in India’s document-less Muslim citizens about their citizenship rights and their capacity to practise their faith.