CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT ACT AND ITS FALLOUT

With the CAB getting passed with a comfortable majority in both houses of parliament, the bill became an act.  There are protests across the nation engineered by the political opponents to the ruling party, some anti-national elements and refugees and illegal immigrants from across the border.  However, these protests have been largely centered around the states where the party in power is the same as the party in power in the center or those that are in support of the central government.  So much has been written, discussed and debated in main stream media both print and visual and also in the social media, there is no point in recollecting the same here.  However, there is one aspect of the CAA that has been not thought about nor discussed in any platform which this blog is trying to bring to the fore.

Recently it was in a face-book post about driving around Mumbai, there was a talk with the driver and he was mentioning about the loss of camaraderie among people of various faiths which was there when he was a small boy growing up in the by-lanes of central Mumbai. The driver went onto mention that no one bothered about the religion of the other and the children used to get into any one's house and eat and play with any one else.  The post ended with the driver's lament about what changed all leaving the readers in no doubt about who or what he was holding responsible.

All these issues had been plaguing the country for a very long time even before independence.  Some of the actions of M K Gandhi and later by the government lead by J Nehru sowed the seeds for this.  The education ministry under Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who reportedly left the ministry to his assistants who were directing the ministry in the directions of pampering the minority.  Various actions of the government under the guidance of M K Gandhi to protect the Muslim minority, has resulted in alienating the majority population away, though not immediately, but over a period of time. Some of the acts of the Government of India, are in favour of the minorities and to the detriment of the majority population.  The religious freedom available in the constitution has not provided for protection of people from forced conversion from one faith to another.  That apart there are other glaring inaction by the various governments from the first elected government in 1952 till 2014, which had lead to the current imbroglio where the present administration has been saddled with performing many actions which are projected as anti-minority population by the opponents of the ruling party.

1. Abrogation of article 370
2. Making the divorce by triple talaq a criminal offence and illegal
3. The Babri masjid where a temple for Lord was to be constructed

Like the few issues illustrated above, many other long pending issues had been tackled by the present administration to the chagrin and discomfort of the opponents to the party in power in the center. Therefore, the opponents of the party in power,  who were enjoying political windfall by being silent all along, found that the issues that they were using to hoodwink the minorities and using them as vote bank only have vanished.   Therefore, there is a rabble rousing of the ill informed to gather against the party in power.  The political powers that were reaping the benefits of being in power for long, found that their fount of wealth was drying up and therefore, throwing the national security to the winds, started making the people of the minority population feel afraid about the present administration.  The leaders of the minority population also do not help matters much by inciting the people with hatred against the majority and the party in power.  The blind hatred for the party in power has lead to the situation where the political opponents are using every action possible to incite the minorities who are citizens of the country against the government. 

The enemy across the border had been miffed at the turn of events in the past five and half years since this government came to power.  The totally unexpected reaction and decimation of the terrorist camps across the LOC in the POK area has put the enemy on notice that they cannot continue to play havoc with India like what they used to do earlier.  The abrogation of article 370 and keeping the trouble makers in the valley under check in house arrest have created an atmosphere of panic for the enemy.  The enemy was using the political and non political leaders in the valley to foment trouble and fan hatred for the Indian government. The protection available to them under the article 370 when no more is available, the enemy and their proteges in the valley find it very difficult to continue to peddle their trade.  However, the nurturing of some of the fringe outfits by the enemy and their supporters within the country has seen violent reactions in the recent past when the above act was passed in the parliament.  The government will do well to ban these fringe elements and arrest and incarcerate the leaders without allowing them to be a threat to the sovereignty of the country. 

The political discourse has gone to the extent of inciting the people to take extreme actions against the leaders of the party in power in the center.  These have resulted in the disharmony among the population of different faiths with a section of the majority population ranging against the others with vitriolic outpouring in their actions and writings both in social media and main stream media.  Added to this majority of the main stream media, print and visual, have remained partial and misreporting and coloring the fact and incidents.  Even the fringe elements in the states and their vile actions and talks are getting such a national coverage making them instant heroes.  The type of unchecked sensationalising the news instead of reporting it as it is has created an atmosphere of fear among the population of different faith.  

The educated lot of the politicians help little in these matters, as most of them who belong to the opposition camp  start peddling all sorts of lies including the fear mongering among the minority communities.  The debate on the CAB in the RS in which a celebrated supreme court advocate crossed swords with the home minister is an example of how the opposition educated elite twist the issue to suit their goals and create confusion among the public, though he himself was a member of the committee in 2003 which recommended these steps to be taken.  The statement of the chief minister of Bengal,  that Railways are the property of the central government and it is the responsibility of the same to take care of its assets reeks of political opportunism.  She was meekly smiling at the speech of her MLA/Minister who said that they would not allow the home minister of the country to exit the airport in the state capital. This is the extent to which the opposition has gone in their hatred for the ruling party and its leaders.  It is high time that the parties in the opposition camp understands that the national security and sovereignty are something much more valuable than a few thousand votes in an election and hatred for the ruling party and its leaders.  It is a pity that there are no real leaders who can raise above the petty politics and show a mirror to the so called tall leaders of opposition parties.