Dissecting Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019
Why does the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 seem utterly nonsensical?
- It includes only three neighbouring countries, namely Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh, and excludes other neighbours, namely China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.
- While Pakistan and Bangladesh were part of British India before 1947, Afghanistan was never part of India. On what logic is Afghanistan given consideration in line with Pakistan and Bangladesh?
- The Act grants citizenship to persecuted religious minorities who came to India on or before 2014, belonging to Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, Parsi, and Christian communities. But it ignores other persecuted religious minorities, such as Ahmadiyyas, Shias, Jews in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh.
- The neighbouring countries that consist of persecuted minorities, such as Uighur Muslims (Xinjiang, China), Rohingyas (Myanmar), and Tamils (Sri Lanka), are not included in the Act.
- The Act considers persecution only on the basis of religion. It deliberately ignores persecution based on language, ethnicity, political ideology, etc.
- Sri Lankan Tamils, who are one of the most persecuted groups on the basis of ethnicity and language, are not taken into consideration.
It seems that the intention of the Act is to create chaos and disrupt society for political advantage.