What is Happening in India with the CAB and NRC, and Why India is On Fire

Let's begin with the NRC, or the National Register of Citizens that applies to Assam, India. The Indian government has always alleged that there's a huge number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in Assam. It is true that 10 million Bangladeshis fled to India to seek refuge during the 1971 war, mostly Hindus. Some may not have returned. 

When the Hindutva supporting BJP came to power, led by Modi, they initially threw their support behind the NRC. The law is that anyone who entered Assam without proper documentation after 24 March 1971 would be declared a foreigner and deported. The party had also swept to power in Assam's state government in 2016, riding on the support of the Hindus and tribespeople. But when the final list of citizens was published, the BJP suddenly changed tracks, saying the NRC was error prone and wrong.

Why?

The reason for that was a lot of Bengali Hindus - a strong voter base for the party - were left off the list, and risked becoming illegal immigrants. And these form the core vote bank of BJP. Out of the 19 million people left OUT of the list, 13 million are Hindu, 5 million Bengali Muslims. Everyone of them claims they are Indian, not Bangladeshi. The BJP is now in a dilemma. 

How do you ensure those 13 million Hindus can vote, when you yourself are saying they are illegal Bangladeshi migrants?

Enter the CAB (Citizenship Amendment Bill).

The Modi government has now passed the bill that says EVEN if you are an immigrant claiming refugee status from Bangladesh, Pakistan or Afghanistan, your case will be expedited and processed. BUT ONLY IF you are not Muslim. Simply put: this is a backdoor way to get those 13 million Hindus in Assam back on the citizenship list, but excluding the Muslims (who will not vote BJP). This is the first time such an exclusively discriminatory bill was added to citizenship criteria in India's so far secular history.

So why are people protesting?

1. The Muslims feel they are being marginalized and made into second class citizens. More on this later.
2. The Hindus who are genuinely Indian claim the CAB will not help them, since they are not claiming refugee status. They just want the government not to make them stateless.
3. Assamese people are protesting a fear influx of migrants from across the border who will now claim refugee status under the new law.
4. Urban folks genuinely worried about how extremely intolerant India is becoming.

Let's dig a little deeper about the first point - marginalizing Muslims in India. 

• Earlier this year, the government scrapped seven decades of autonomy for Kashmir, India's only Muslim majority state. All political leaders were detained, and severe restrictions on speech, assembly, internet and communications were put in place. The state is still under military rule, and human rights organizations have spoken of vast human rights abuses by the Indian army.
• Many Muslim city names have been changed to Hindu names. For example, Allahabad has been changed to Prayagraj.
• Even rail station with Muslim names are affected. The name of India's Mughalsarai railway station, near Varanasi, was changed last year to Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, for a right-wing Hindu leader who died there in 1968.
• Official education books now try to downplay the 1000 year old Muslim leadership of India (the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals, etc.) and try to emphasize the ancient Hindu history (and the recent ones such as the Marathi empire).
• Bollywood movies now openly make movies where Muslim leaders are portrayed as the bad guys (Padmavat, Panipat, etc.)
• The Assam state register (NRC) threatens to make 5 million Muslims stateless. There's already detention centres built in India RIGHT NOW housing close to hundreds of thousands of Muslims.

Let us not forget the numerous cases of vigilante mob lynching and extra judicial killings. Christians and Muslims are both targeted, but Muslims have borne the brunt of the attacks. The government has turned a blind eye to these killings, not investigating them at all.

Amidst such a climate comes the CAB. And Indian government has said they will now extend NRC all over India, not just Assam. Every Indian citizen will have to PROVE they are actual citizens, and not be using modern documents, but by ANCIENT ANCESTRY. It is hard enough getting documentation in India right now. Imagine having to go back to 1947, or even before (the British Raj) for your documentation. You cannot, and this is where the CAB comes in. You get a free pass if you are Hindu, Christian, Sikh or Jain, BUT NOT IF YOU ARE MUSLIM. 

Now you are property less, vote less, and stateless. Where do you live? The government will build detention centres (just like Assam) but all over India.

"I assure you no Jews will be affected by our Nurember Law." - Hitler in 1935

"I assure you no Muslim will be affected by our Citizenship Amendment Bill." - Amit Shah of BJP, 2019

Sources:

1. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-50757093
2. https://scroll.in/article/946430/bjp-claims-citizenship-bill-will-save-those-left-of-nrc-but-bengali-hindus-in-assam-are-sceptical
3. https://qz.com/india/1769059/why-are-indians-protesting-citizenship-amendment-act-nrc/
4. https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2100513/modis-party-stokes-anti-muslim-violence-india-report-says
5. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-13/why-india-s-modi-has-his-country-s-muslims-worried-quicktake
6. https://www.npr.org/2019/04/23/714108344/india-is-changing-some-cities-names-and-muslims-fear-their-heritage-is-being-era