On Monday, while the Parliament was debating the Citizenship Amendment Bill, controversial journalist Barkha Dutt was busy looking for a ‘modern-day Gandhi‘ who would fast unto death against the Bill. After the Lok Sabha passed the CAB with a thumping majority, Barkha Dutt’s will does appear to have manifested itself, although in a slightly altered fashion. People in the ‘secular’ camp have decided that ‘Civil Disobedience’ is the proper way to move forward with their agenda.
Harsh Mander, who is associated with a foreign-funded NGO and helped draft the viciously sectarian Communal Violence Bill as a member of Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council, declared that he will register himself as Muslim and refuse to submit his documents for the NRC. Then, he says, he will demand the same punishment as any undocumented Muslim. It’s unclear whether he will undergo circumcision as well.
If CAB is passed, this is my civil disobedience:
I will officially register Muslim. I will then refuse to submit any documents to NRC. I will finally demand the same punishment as any undocumented Muslim- detention centre & withdrawn citizenship.
Join this civil disobedience— Harsh Mander (@harsh_mander) December 10, 2019
The campaign against the NRC appears to be gaining momentum. Numerous people are coming forward to assert that they will not be submitting any document to prove their citizenship during the NRC exercise.
The process of enumeration through NRC & CAB amounts to profiling and dehumanization of the minorities
I , Mini Nair refuse to submit to this immoral act by not submitting the requisite documents needed to prove my citizenship. I will not be a mute spectator.— Mini Nair (@minicnair) December 10, 2019
I am an atheist and I am against #CAB. I don’t have to adopt a religion to oppose it. No one should submit any documents to NRC.#MassDisobedience https://t.co/ClSKflBYV6
— Nirjhari Sinha (@NirjhariSinha) December 10, 2019
Certain other people are also asking Muslims to not submit their documents. In all fairness, it doesn’t come across as a very good idea.
When NRC will come, not a single Muslim should submit his/her documents. Let’s defy the rule just like नमक सत्याग्रह
I am ready to go to Detention cell with my Muslim brethren.
Let’s see, how big Detention cell Vomit Shah can create to accommodate 20 cr Indians#IndiaAgainstCAB https://t.co/3av7tgpn05— Sadhvi Rutambhara (@SadhviRutambhar) December 9, 2019
The ‘Secular’ camp has demonstrated a remarkable lack of understanding about the CAB and has been in a state of meltdown ever since the Bill was tabled. They have come up with obnoxious arguments for opposing the Bill and the NRC. Sreenivasan Jain of NDTV even claimed that Muslims are a minority in the three Islamic States mentioned.
While it is clear that these people know the difference between CAB and NRC, they are deliberately using the two together, sometimes interchangeably, to fear-monger.
The main objection from the ‘Secular’ camp appears to be that the Rohingyas will not be included in the CAB. Home Minister Amit Shah made it clear on the floor of the Lok Sabha that India will never accept Rohingyas in the country. The ‘Liberals’, it appears, not only want Rohingyas to be included within the CAB but also Ahmadiyyas and Shias from Pakistan. It is, of course, utter stupidity for India to allow such a thing but ‘liberals’ do not care. They will be perfectly willing to sell India down the drain as long as they can claim the moral higher ground. It’s narcissism of the highest order.
Read: Citizenship Amendment Bill – Myths and lies propagated against it, and the facts
‘Liberals’ appear to forget that the Shias and Ahmadiyyas who are in Pakistan currently fought a Civil War against Hindus in 1947 so that their children could grow up in an Islamic state. India cannot permit everyone to come back here simply because things did not work out the way they thought they would. However, ‘liberals’ do not care for such details.
Regarding the efforts being made by ‘liberals’ with respect to Rohingyas, they have always had a soft spot for them despite the fact that Rohingyas are known to have committed genocides of Hindus in Myanmar. Under such circumstances, it appears foolish for India to provide citizenship to them. Moreover, Rohingyas could always go to Bangladesh. In fact, many of them pass through Bangladesh in order to reach India. They cannot be called refugees.
‘Liberals’, of course, have struggled hard to protect Rohingyas ever since India made it clear that they will not accept them in the country. Prashant Bhushan, another individual associated with a foreign-funded NGO, even appeared for them in the Court. However, despite their many protestations, the Indian Government has not changed their position.
The main grudge that ‘liberals’ have with the CAB is that it does not provide privileges to Muslims that people of other religions from the three countries have been granted. They do not care one bit about the immense persecution non-Muslims are forced through in the said places. According to liberals, it’s not only Indian Muslims that India must care about, it’s also Muslims from the Islamic States that India must look out for despite the fact that there are numerous Islamic States who can take care of them if they so choose.
‘Liberals’ seem unable to cope with the simple notion that India owes a special responsibility towards the persecuted Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs of the Indian subcontinent, a responsibility that India does not owe for anyone else. An average Indian perfectly understands why a persecuted Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Sikh should find refuge in India, however, liberals, deracinated as they are, cannot come to terms with the obvious.
Moreover, liberals appear unable to distinguish between refugees and economic migrants. There’s an immense difference between the two. The Bangladeshi Muslims who have come to India haven’t done so because they are persecuted for their faith in Bangladesh. That is not something that can be said for Hindus of the same country. Therefore, India must treat these two categories differently. These are simple matters which liberals do not understand. They want India to treat economic migrants the same way that refugees are meant to be treated. And that is the root cause of their opposition towards the NRC.
The CAB is merely India fulfilling its responsibility towards the non-Muslims from the three Islamic states in the neighbourhood. And the NRC is designed to augment India’s national security. It’s utterly bizarre that any Indian should be opposed to both these propositions. The extent they are willing to go to in order to undermine the NRC is indeed a matter of grave concern and perhaps, strict action ought to be taken against them. And if ‘Secularism’ mandates that CAB is morally reprehensible, then, perhaps ‘Secularism’ is not a good thing after all.
