CAA is Injustice with the persecuted minorities of Bangladesh
I welcome all minorities of Pakistan, regarding Afghanistan, I do not wish to comment upon that.
But, regarding Bangladesh, do all people among minorities of there, that have come illegally to India, do all of them have come to save themselves from persecution? Or have some or many of them come here not because of persecution, but, in search of better employment and business opportunities? If it is so, how can you treat people who have come here to save their lives from persecution and those who search for better employment opportunities equally?
Also, how can you discriminate between those bangladeshis who come here for job, treating some as legal and some as illegal?
The same argument was given by Kerela Governer on a TV interview on 'Aap ki Adalat' show hosted by Mr. Rajat Sharma that those who come here in search of better employment and those who come here to save their lives are unequals, and unequals cannot be treated equally. That was a fair argument and I agree. But, the same can be applied to those among the minorities of Bangladesh themselves, have all of them come here to save themselves from persecution or have a section or many of them too come here in search of better employment? If indeed a section among them has come illegally in search of employment, treating them as equal with those who come here to save themselves from persecution is definitely doing injustice to the later.
Having said that, 2 questions arise, first being that does CAA really declare all minorities coming illegally from Bangladesh till 2014 as legal? To ensure that, let us look at the contents of the act as notified by the gazette of India.[1] at the end provides link to the pdf from gazette of India website. The act clearly states:
"Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or
Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into
India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the
Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the
Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the
Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder, shall not be treated as
illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act;".
Above clearly expresses that migrants of 6 communities from Bangladesh till 2014 shall not be treated as illegal migrant. It makes no distinction between prosecuted and non-prosecuted. This also renders the explainations provided by Mr. Subramaniam Swami, rajya sabha MP from BJP as meaning less. Dr Swami regularly iterated that only those persecuted shall not be treated as illegal, but, the contents of act state otherwise. Also as per Dr. Swamy and as per the parliamentary committe report of 2016 on this very act, only about 32000 people approximately have come from three mentioned nations as persecuted as per the records. But, around 19 lakhs were identified as 'doubtful citizens' in Assam NRC itself, with around 13.5 lakhs being of non-majority community(majority in context of Bangladesh). So, the question next is what will happen to these people who could neither prove citizenship and nor do they have records of coming here to save themselves from persecution?
And if they are given citizenship on just the grounds of belonging to certain communities, it will also be injustice to those who have come here to save themselves from prosecution.
Another question that arises is: have there been any reliable study or survey or estimation as to if really there have been illegal migrations from Bangladesh for better employment prespectives, if that has not been done yet, that needs to be done for better insights into resolution of this issue
Now, the question is as to what remedy is being suggested of the deadlock that we have right now. The changes that I suggest is instead of writing names of six communities in the act, the word 'persecuted minorities' should be inserted, that will solve the problem of injustice that persecuted minorities face. But, it is also a fact that regularly, we see a huge migration from Bangladesh to India, both legally and also reports of illegal migration. It is not just the story of today, this has been the story since ages, and also likely to continue into the future. A better resolution for this as per my suggestion should be to not grant citizenship to Bangladeshi illegal migrant, but, to have an agreement between India and Bnagladesh like that which we have with Nepal, that people if Bangladesh would not need visa / passport to travel and live in India and neither would the people of India have the need for same in Bangladesh. Also, in return Bangladesh should develop some great tourist spots and should have welcoming atmosphere for tourists for India. In such a way, Indians would also get one more new place to travel around freely and Bangladesh would register growth in their economy and employment, also, people to people contact would increase which should in all likelihood decrease the extremist sentiments in Bangladesh and misconceptions that Indians have been building against Bangladeshis, thus making life better fir minorities in Bangladesh and of Bangladeshis in India. Not to mention the huge issue of illegal migration to India would be dealt to a large scale.
[1]. egazette.nic.in › WriteReadDataPDF
Citizenship Amendment Act - Gazette of India: http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/214646.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi65d_ztdDnAhWBzjgGHQ4cCnEQFjAhegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1HnAEylWigvnZl6gzgB18M
[2].
But, regarding Bangladesh, do all people among minorities of there, that have come illegally to India, do all of them have come to save themselves from persecution? Or have some or many of them come here not because of persecution, but, in search of better employment and business opportunities? If it is so, how can you treat people who have come here to save their lives from persecution and those who search for better employment opportunities equally?
Also, how can you discriminate between those bangladeshis who come here for job, treating some as legal and some as illegal?
The same argument was given by Kerela Governer on a TV interview on 'Aap ki Adalat' show hosted by Mr. Rajat Sharma that those who come here in search of better employment and those who come here to save their lives are unequals, and unequals cannot be treated equally. That was a fair argument and I agree. But, the same can be applied to those among the minorities of Bangladesh themselves, have all of them come here to save themselves from persecution or have a section or many of them too come here in search of better employment? If indeed a section among them has come illegally in search of employment, treating them as equal with those who come here to save themselves from persecution is definitely doing injustice to the later.
Having said that, 2 questions arise, first being that does CAA really declare all minorities coming illegally from Bangladesh till 2014 as legal? To ensure that, let us look at the contents of the act as notified by the gazette of India.[1] at the end provides link to the pdf from gazette of India website. The act clearly states:
"Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or
Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into
India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the
Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the
Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the
Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder, shall not be treated as
illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act;".
Above clearly expresses that migrants of 6 communities from Bangladesh till 2014 shall not be treated as illegal migrant. It makes no distinction between prosecuted and non-prosecuted. This also renders the explainations provided by Mr. Subramaniam Swami, rajya sabha MP from BJP as meaning less. Dr Swami regularly iterated that only those persecuted shall not be treated as illegal, but, the contents of act state otherwise. Also as per Dr. Swamy and as per the parliamentary committe report of 2016 on this very act, only about 32000 people approximately have come from three mentioned nations as persecuted as per the records. But, around 19 lakhs were identified as 'doubtful citizens' in Assam NRC itself, with around 13.5 lakhs being of non-majority community(majority in context of Bangladesh). So, the question next is what will happen to these people who could neither prove citizenship and nor do they have records of coming here to save themselves from persecution?
And if they are given citizenship on just the grounds of belonging to certain communities, it will also be injustice to those who have come here to save themselves from prosecution.
Another question that arises is: have there been any reliable study or survey or estimation as to if really there have been illegal migrations from Bangladesh for better employment prespectives, if that has not been done yet, that needs to be done for better insights into resolution of this issue
Now, the question is as to what remedy is being suggested of the deadlock that we have right now. The changes that I suggest is instead of writing names of six communities in the act, the word 'persecuted minorities' should be inserted, that will solve the problem of injustice that persecuted minorities face. But, it is also a fact that regularly, we see a huge migration from Bangladesh to India, both legally and also reports of illegal migration. It is not just the story of today, this has been the story since ages, and also likely to continue into the future. A better resolution for this as per my suggestion should be to not grant citizenship to Bangladeshi illegal migrant, but, to have an agreement between India and Bnagladesh like that which we have with Nepal, that people if Bangladesh would not need visa / passport to travel and live in India and neither would the people of India have the need for same in Bangladesh. Also, in return Bangladesh should develop some great tourist spots and should have welcoming atmosphere for tourists for India. In such a way, Indians would also get one more new place to travel around freely and Bangladesh would register growth in their economy and employment, also, people to people contact would increase which should in all likelihood decrease the extremist sentiments in Bangladesh and misconceptions that Indians have been building against Bangladeshis, thus making life better fir minorities in Bangladesh and of Bangladeshis in India. Not to mention the huge issue of illegal migration to India would be dealt to a large scale.
[1]. egazette.nic.in › WriteReadDataPDF
Citizenship Amendment Act - Gazette of India: http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2019/214646.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi65d_ztdDnAhWBzjgGHQ4cCnEQFjAhegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw1HnAEylWigvnZl6gzgB18M
[2].
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