The NRC final list in Assam was released today, and more than 19 lakh people find themselves stateless. Out of 19 lakh people who did not find their names in NRC, many are Hindus. As the list was released today, many state BJP leaders have voiced their concerns saying the whole exercise is a “conspiracy to keep Hindus out and help Muslims”.
However, the BJP high command has already clarified its stance on Hindu refugees. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has repeatedly said, ‘‘Hindu refugees’’ would be treated fairly and they will get citizenship of the country even if left out of National Register of Citizens.
Earlier, in the month of July, Amit Shah had said in the Rajya Sabha, “I want to repeat our stand on NRC. We want to stop infiltration and also push every single infiltrator out of the country. As far as Hindu refugees are concerned, we are bringing the Citizenship Amendment Bill to give them Indian citizenship.” Therefore Hindus must not be worried about their status as citizens of India.
The 2019 BJP manifesto also mentioned about providing citizenship to persecuted minorities of neighbouring countries, i.e., Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. “Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs escaping persecution from India’s neighbouring countries will be given citizenship in India,” reads the BJP manifesto for 2019 general election. The party will deliver on its manifesto promise to provide citizenship to Hindus persecuted in neighboring countries, said Shah.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019 which was passed by Lok Sabha in January this year, but lapsed due to dissolution of 16th Lok Sabha, provides for citizenship to ‘the persons belonging to minority communities, namely, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan’. However, this bill lapsed in June with the end of the first term of Modi government.
The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, unsurprisingly, created a furore among the left-liberals in the country. Since independence, Hindus have been subjected to persecution in the neighbouring states of Bangladesh and Pakistan.
A look at the history of atrocities of Hindu minorities in neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh definitely makes a compelling argument for the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. There have been various reports of rape, forced conversion of minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Recent report of a Sikh girl forcibly converted and made to marry a Muslim man points out the glaring atrocities committed on the minorities. Earlier this year, Anusha Meghwar, a 16-year-old girl from Tharparkar, Pakistan was abducted, forcibly converted to Islam before she was forcibly married. The incident happened in the Sindh province of Pakistan where child marriage is a punishable offence.
In Pakistan, Hindu persecution has become an almost accepted norm. News cycle is filled with stories of abduction, murder, rape of Hindus in the country. A similar incident happened last year in the Sindh province where a young Hindu girl, Ravita Meghwar was forcibly converted and married to a Muslim man.
The situation is similarly bad (if not worse) in Bangladesh. Hindus in Bangladesh (and erstwhile East Pakistan) have faced ethnic cleansing since 1947. In 2017, at least 107 people of the Hindu community were killed and 31 fell victims to enforced disappearance.
The history of persecution of Hindus in the SAARC countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan begs the question if India, the motherland of Hindus, would not grant protection to Hindus then who will?
According to the 2011 census report, the population of minorities in India has increased in fact. On the other hand, the population of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh have reduced considerably.
Thus the Modi government has rightfully stepped in and decided to grant citizenship status to the minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill not only grants them relief from persecution but also provides them the respect they deserve, which the neighbouring countries have not provided them, unfortunately. It is a moral duty of the nation to protect and shelter the persecuted Hindus of the world. India is the natural home for the Hindus and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill seeks to do precisely this duty and thus the Hindus who have been left out of the NRC need not worry.