India's citizenship law targets Muslims
For first time since 1947, religion is a criterion for Indian citizenship.
By S. Amjad Hussain / The Blade
Wed, 22 Jan 2020 05:00:00 GMT
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RECENTLY THE Indian government passed a citizenship law that sparked violent protests in the country and claimed a number of lives. Since India’s independence in 1947, it is the first time religion has been made a criterion for Indian citizenship.
The law provides a path to citizenship to members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian religious minorities who had fled from the neighboring countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. It specifically excludes Muslims for such consideration, saying that they should return to Muslim countries.
The Rohingya Muslims were persecuted by the Buddhist majority in Myanmar and forced to flee. A number of them reached India via Bangladesh and will be excluded from citizenship, according to the new law. Myanmar has refused to accept Rohingya back into the country.
Also at risk are Muslims who are unable to provide proof of Indian residency and citizenship irrespective of the length of their stay in India.
The new law and other anti-Muslim policies have to be seen through the prism of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ideology.
In 1925 like-minded Hindu nationalists formed Rashtriya Sevek Sangh, a youth organization along the lines of Hitler Youth, a youth organization of the Nazi Party. Mr. Modi played a major role in establishing the branches of RSS throughout India. Later he represented RSS in the national political party Bharatya Janta Party that is commonly known by its initials, BJP.
The RSS as well as the Bharatya Janta Party promote the ideology of Hindutva or Hindu-ness that looks at the Indian culture through the lens of Hindu values. Under Mr. Modi, BJP has openly supported RSS philosophy and has been known to incite violence against minorities in India.
In 2002 when Mr. Modi was chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, 2,000 Muslims were massacred in a pogrom. While Mr. Modi was not directly implicated in the pogrom, the state police, by allowing Hindu mobs to go after the Muslims, was implicated. Because of Mr. Modi’s responsibility as the chief minister, the United States banned him from entering the United States. The ban continued until he emerged as a prime ministerial candidate in 2014.
The backlash against the recent law has been violent and widespread. Western reports indicate that the police were given a free hand to deal with demonstrators. At least 16 people have died and hundreds were injured as a result. Police entered Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi and beat up protesting students. It was repeated at Jamia Millia Islamia, another university in New Delhi.
While a great majority of Mr. Modi’s supporters have applauded the new law, a good number of Hindus have spoken against it and have been part of peaceful demonstrations across India. Recently Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of the populous Indian state of West Bengal, led a massive rally in Kolkata.
International reaction has been swift. The European Union, the United States, and many other nations have spoken against the law. In an unprecedented first the scientific journal Nature in an editorial condemned the attacks on university students in Delhi and Aligarh. The editorial quoted Nature’s principal scientific adviser, Vijaya Raghaven, taking exception to police intrusion in the university campuses.
The surge of Hindu nationalism has also targeted Mohandas Gandhi, the hero of India’s struggle for independence. The Hindu nationalists blame him for appeasing Muslims and ceding to the creation of Pakistan. RSS member Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi because he was too friendly to the Muslims. There is a movement within RSS and BJP to rehabilitate Godse as an Indian patriot and hero.
Meanwhile, the Indian diaspora is mostly mute on the law.
In the aftermath of the pogrom in Gujarat, a coalition of Christian evangelists, Jewish leaders, Indian-born activists, and Republican members of the U.S. Congress successfully opposed the issuance of a visa to Mr. Modi.
In contrast, very few diaspora Hindus have spoken openly against the citizen law or the incendiary rhetoric used by Mr. Modi and some leaders of BJP. Last September 50,000 Indians attended a Modi love fest in Houston.
A recent editorial in the New York Times summarizes the real intent of the law: “The law, as India’s 200 million Muslims have correctly surmised, has nothing to do with helping migrants and everything to do with the campaign by Mr. Modi and his home minister, Amit Shah, to marginalize Muslims and turn India into a homeland for Hindus, who comprise about 80 percent of the population of 1.3 billion.”
S. Amjad Hussain is an emeritus professor of surgery and humanities at the University of Toledo. His column appears every other week in The Blade. Contact him at aghaji@bex.net.