So the country has been going through an intensive debate on CAA for the last two months, people have been protesting and counter-protesting the Act, social media has been abuzz with views, violence has been reported on all ends and Adnan Sami gets Padmashree Award for his contribution to the field of music. People anticipate that the protest will go on for months just like Hong Kong protests and the India is divided on the lines of "Bhakts vs Libtards".
First things first, I come from a family with ancestral roots to Undivided Punjab, I have heard stories of my own close relatives not being able to make it to India and most probably never survived. Therefore I believe I am in a better position to at least comment with a better view on the Pakistan Scenario.
Minorities in South East Asia :
Unlike India which has been a successful sovereign democracy, our friendly neighborhood isn't as friendly to its minorities. India has had three Muslim presidents, several Muslim chief ministers in Hindu majority states and several intellectuals, Businessmen, academicians, artists who have made India proud.
On the contrary, a Non-Muslim can never become a leader of the state unless he is one, Pakistan has a separate electoral for Hindus and Christians , and the representation in mostly Nil. Apart from the representation, they are generally persecuted on religious grounds. During 1993 Babri Masjid and 2002 Godhra riots, several temples were razed down by mobs as a back lash to something that was not even their fault. During 1971 three lakh hindus were killed for no fault of theirs. Taliban regime killed several non Muslims for just being Kafir.
A simple Google search on " Conversion Pakistan" will give you an average 2-3 news articles depicting forced conversion on Minorities (Just try it yourself).
Counter View : Aren't Muslims persecuted as well?
Maybe they are, on account of not being Muslim-enough as can be seen in several countries. Maybe that's the reason you see several Pakistani cricketers resort to presenting themselves as more pious to be able to survive in their society.
But is that persecuted minority? The answer in "NO". One can't be a persecuted minority part of the majoritarian religion in his own country. People who left Iran post 1979 and Afghanistan post Taliban occupation can not be termed "persecuted minorities" but part of a civil crisis. And as seen a lot of Iranian's and Afghan's did go their respective homeland's when the situation was favorable.
What is CAA?
So what exactly is CAA, if one had to read it without the labels of Right wing or left wing implementing it, It provides citizenship to people whom the Government of India deems as Persecuted Minorities in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The Humanitarian Liberal View:
There are a lot of people I came across who consider themselves as Liberals, believing in no religion but Humanity which is a very noble concept. But because you believe in Humanity does not imply the persecutor also believes in Humanity. So if you oppose CAA, one should really ask or at least be able to answer the following with close ended answers
i) Are minorities persecuted in Afg-Bang-Pak?. Yes/No
ii) If they are persecuted and wish to move outside their respective countries, should they be supported ? Yes/No.
iii) Should India do something for them, if they come to India and seek citizenship?. Yes/No.
iv) Are you against CAA or you want CAA to be implemented with amendments?.
If all your answers are No, you aren't a humanitarian but just Anti-Right.
Counter View : The Government is Anti-Muslim for implementing CAA.
View : The Right Wing labelled BJP Government granted 3753 Visas including Citizenship's between 2014-2019, but only 1854 were Hindus. This includes the likes of Adnan Sami, Pernia Qureshi, who have been associated with India. Now if there are really Muslims persecuted in Pakistan, they can apply citizenship directly through India's Asylum policy.
P.S Citizenship through CAA takes 5 years, Citizenship through Asylum is less than two years.
The CAA-NRC Whatsapp fiasco.
People have received news of the BJP Government building a 1.5 Million capacity refugee camp across India. But has anyone ever filed an RTI to verify if its true? If the camp is big enough, are there any pictures of its construction or its presence?
NRC states one is required to show at least one of the nineteen listed documents (including PAN, Adhar, Passport, Land records, Jail records for the least ) to unify and sanitize a unique record of Indian residents. Since census does not cover certain areas in Nagaland, Assam, Manipur and Kashmir, the Government has the right to quantify a record all the individuals living in this country.
Stats : Just for the record, India has 123 Crore Aadhar card holders
93 Crore Voter Id's
157 Crore bank accounts (Current and Savings)
38 Crore PAN Cards
26 Crore children enrolled in schools
6 Lakh Villages with Land records (92%)
4,33,033 Prisoners in Jails
21,000 people in Mental Asylum's
Population : 135 Crores.
So the only people who would not have a single record out of the one's listed above would be a very minuscule percentage of the population. Those not a part of NRC can still provide details of three known Indian individuals and register as part of NRC, and that individual can be of any faith.
The Curious case of Tukde-Tukde
If its the left wing breaking this country or the right, its India that suffers.
Both the left wing and the right wing tries to scare you of World War Two type consequences.
Both the wings share old videos on Social Media depicting themselves as the Victim.
Both the wings speak about the other breaking the country when both are equally responsible for dividing the society.
