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New Delhi:
Congress veteran Salman Khurshid and BJP’s Amit Malviya supply insights into the historical past and politics of the citizenship legislation debate as they collectively try to current the 2 sides of the contentious situation in a brand new ebook.
The Parliament handed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 on December 11, 2019, triggering heated debates and protests – each violent and non-violent.
In the ebook titled “The Citizenship Debate”, Mr Malviya argues that the CAA is a case of misreading, whereas Mr Khurshid says it’s a case of misdirection.
Mr Malviya, the top of the BJP’s data expertise cell, contends that the “entire debate on the CAA, and the violent protests and the riots that have been engineered are all part of a political scheme aimed at unsettling the BJP government and creating an atmosphere of fear and anxiety in the country”.
This isn’t just any previous opposition tactic or hypocrisy however political gamesmanship that threatens the very foundations of a democratic India, he alleges.
According to him, the CAA isn’t in opposition to the spirit of the Constitution however is, in truth, the nurturing spirit that can strengthen the spirit of the Indian ethos.
However, Mr Khurshid feels the CAA, in its “implicit endeavour to subsume a refugee law in its Citizenship Act, has forgotten to give concrete rationale for inclusion of only a few religious groups or countries given the broad contours of persecution”.
Mr Malviya argues it’s improper to say that the CAA is a step in the direction of ”Hindu Rashtra”.
“It is a step towards a policy that rejects appeasement politics, pandering to particular groups, and assuring the rights of those minorities who are facing religious persecution at the hands of extremists, rogue states and agents provocateurs,” he writes within the ebook, printed by Rupa.
“The Hindu Rashtra argument falls apart for another very important reason: the CAA is not a law that protects only Hindu minorities from the three neighbouring countries, but it is also a conscious attempt to protect the interests of other persecuted groups, including Christians, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs,” he says.
But Mr Khurshid, a senior advocate and a former Union minister, says “questions are posed on one”s nationality on the basis of religion. Muslims, even today, are viewed as naturally disloyal to the nation in popular perception”.
Mr Malviya sees no hyperlink between the CAA and the NRC train from a legalistic perspective. Khurshid finds the actual sting is in NRC-NPR, and the CAA is however the balm for some who may be singed by the previous.
“But even the arguably intended beneficiaries will be at a loss to establish their Pakistan, Bangladesh or Afghanistan citizenship having failed to establish their Indian citizenship,” he says.
The CAA seeks to grant citizenship to non-Muslim migrants belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Jain and Parsi communities who got here to India from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan on or earlier than December 31, 2014.
Mr Malviya additionally says that the allegation that the monitor document of the NRC is poor is a purple herring and must be dismissed with the contempt that it deserves.
“If at all a government agency is not working efficiently, then it is incumbent upon both the political leadership and executive to shape up and demand efficiency. To, therefore, argue that the NRC exercise ought not to be carried out is mischievous,” he says.
Mr Khurshid is of the opinion that the central authorities, with the CAA and the intention of conducting a pan-India NRC, ought to have given it a deeper thought to finalise what paperwork they need proven.
With this lack of readability within the ”Show Your Documents” drive, a lot of folks get despatched to detention camps, with no concrete treaty with nations reminiscent of Bangladesh for deporting migrants, he says.
“India is a large country with a majority of its population poor and illiterate. Documentation thus becomes a herculean task not only for the authorities conducting this exercise but also for the people to own them,” Mr Khurshid writes.
People have totally different impressions concerning the CAA-NRC-NPR protests occurring throughout India, says the senior Congress chief.
“Some are impressed, others curious whilst a few are puzzled. As much as Amit Shah would have us to believe that there is no evidence of large-scale public support for CAA, it is undeniable that the trigger may have been the spontaneous reaction in Muslim-dominated areas and institutions.
“However, from the start, residents of various faiths have participated within the protests with dedication and conviction. It was really an inclusive endeavour untouched by celebration political ambition,” he says.
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