{"id":7776,"date":"2019-12-19T16:09:45","date_gmt":"2019-12-19T10:39:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/34.22.110.190\/english\/?p=7776"},"modified":"2019-12-19T16:09:45","modified_gmt":"2019-12-19T10:39:45","slug":"the-citizens-guide-to-caa-npr-and-nrc-the-simplest-and-the-essential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/the-citizens-guide-to-caa-npr-and-nrc-the-simplest-and-the-essential\/","title":{"rendered":"The Citizen\u2019s Guide to CAA, NPR and NRC: The Simplest and the Essential"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018A beast can never be so cruel as a man\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013 Fyodor Dostoyevsky<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Amidst the plethora of happenings \u2013 protests, repression, violence, disinformation, propaganda, chaos and confusion \u2013 following is the guide to the most essential that we all need to know and understand in simple and lucid words:<\/p>\n

Assam<\/strong> and the North East <\/strong><\/p>\n

*Assam\u2019s National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise put everyone \u2013 of all religion, caste, class, ethnicity and language \u2013 through a long harrowing process \u2013 with severe emotional and financial costs \u2013 to furnish the history of one\u2019s own lineage \u2013 prior to the cut off mark of 24 March 1971 \u2013 to prove one\u2019s citizenship to the bureaucrats of the Indian State.<\/p>\n

1.9 million (19 lakhs) \u2013 with a majority of Hindus \u2013 were rendered illegal and stateless: divested of all citizenship rights from voting to land ownership.<\/p>\n

Some of them were marched off to 6 detention centres across Assam which were built with taxpayers\u2019 money.<\/p>\n

10 more detention centres are under construction to house, feed and provide healthcare to the \u2018detainees\u2019 who have been hauled out of free normal life \u2013 and self-sufficient economic activity \u2013 to be imprisoned by the state at an enormous recurring cost to the exchequer; and that too in the time of a grave economic slowdown, chronic mismanagement, rampant joblessness, government bankruptcy and financial destabilisation.<\/p>\n

To circumvent the unexpected scenario in Assam where more Hindus have been rendered stateless than the people of any other religion, the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been brought in, so that the stateless Hindus in guise of being \u2018religiously persecuted immigrants\u2019 can regain the Indian citizenship that they have lost through NRC. (To do this the stateless Hindus have to furnish fresh declarations which will contradict their earlier NRC statements)<\/p>\n

CAA stipulates that Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Parsis and Sikh immigrants from 3 Muslim-majority neighbouring countries namely Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh will be granted citizenship if they had arrived in India prior to 2015.<\/p>\n

Persecuted Muslims \u2013 of various sects \u2013 have been left out of CAA along with the persecuted people of all religions \u2013 including Hindus \u2013 from the non-Muslim-majority countries from the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

This new exclusionary principle to grant citizenship based upon religion violates the Constitution and its several articles \u2013 as argued by several legal experts \u2013 and the matter has now proceeded to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Assam and the other North Eastern states are against CAA because it provides the opportunity for more Bengali speaking Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh to settle in the region. New immigrants can potentially claim to have arrived before 2015 and obtain citizenship. The grey areas of CAA haven\u2019t been addressed: the loopholes are yet to be plugged; so the chaos, the anger and the confusion remain.<\/p>\n

Widespread protests got ignited in Assam and elsewhere in the North East which required para-military forces and the army to be brought in amidst violence, curfews and internet shutdowns.<\/p>\n

The situation remains tense and far removed from \u2018normalcy\u2019. People are still locked in their homes with no internet; hostels have been cleared out of students; businesses which depend on online platforms are paralysed; ethno-nationalist protests continue; army is on patrol.<\/p>\n

Someone messaged me that the metal dividers have been uprooted by the protestors in Guwahati and they are being used as road-blocks: some streets are looking like the \u2018streets of Syria and West Bank\u2019.<\/p>\n

Within all this, comes the other \u2013 much bigger and more inflammable \u2013 issue of nationwide NRC that might also include a fresh NRC for Assam. The existing NRC \u2013 after 4 years of pain, financial drainage and pandemonium \u2013 might be scrapped and the trauma might start all-over again from the very beginning.<\/p>\n

Such is the state of affairs: citizens are the playthings of the state and the pawns on the political chessboard; they can be toyed around endlessly without any sense of respect, concern, justice and humanity.<\/p>\n

Nation-wide NRC\/NRIC <\/strong><\/p>\n

*Nation-wide NRC or NRIC (National Register of Indian Citizens) to root out intruders or ghuspaithiyas<\/em> \u2013 as often mentioned by Union Home Minister Amit Shah \u2013 is now hanging over India like a metaphorical guillotine. All of a sudden every Indian will have to prove one\u2019s citizenship to the Modi-Shah-RSS-Hindutva regime that has given itself exclusive power to arbitrarily decide who is a citizen or not. And that the regime will be biased against Muslims and \u2018anti-national\u2019 Hindus \u2013 and other manufactured categories such as \u2018urban naxal\u2019 or \u2018urban Maoist\u2019 or \u2018non-veg-Bengali\u2019 or the members of the dreaded \u2018Khan Market Gang\u2019 \u2013 isn\u2019t an unfounded fear.<\/p>\n

The air is thick with absurdity, chaos, terror and lament: daily films from a senseless new genre of \u2018comedy-action-horror-tragedy\u2019 are being played 24\/7 in the political theatre of the nation.<\/p>\n

But truth is we don\u2019t know the terms of the proposed roll-out of the nationwide NRC \u2013 or the pan-India NRIC \u2013 as of yet. Whether the cut off mark to determine citizenship will be same as Assam, or pushed further back to 1951, hasn\u2019t been announced. We need to wait for the finer details to emerge, if NRC is pushed through, in spite of all the protests, and inadvertently ushers civil disobedience, organised resistance and non-cooperation movement, reminiscent of our struggle for independence.<\/p>\n

What we know now for certain is that CAA, NRC and the National Population Register (NPR) are all inter-related<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

NPR is a \u2018comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.\u2019 It is stated to include demographic and biometric particulars.<\/p>\n

The NPR work has already begun that will collect the targeted data of all the residents of India. This is not connected with the Census, but is a separate exercise that might be going on simultaneously with the Census work.<\/p>\n

After the NPR is completed and a list of residents is made, an internal assessment will happen. A category of \u2018doubtful citizenship\u2019 or \u2018suspects\u2019 will be created from the list of residents. They will be asked to prove citizenship via a \u2018claims and objections\u2019 process. And all this will be decided and done arbitrarily by the bureaucrats of the present regime.<\/p>\n

The above has been revealed in an investigative piece<\/span><\/a> by Shoaib Daniyal that has been published in Scroll<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So in other words, NPR is about a list of residents<\/strong> while NRC is about a list of citizens<\/strong>. And CAA is a tool to help non-Muslim<\/strong> people to gain citizenship, if they find themselves out of the final NRC list.<\/p>\n

So the entire \u2018scheme\u2019 is clearly biased and weaponised <\/strong>against the Muslims.<\/p>\n

The view-finder of the NRC-weapon can also be directed against whoever<\/strong> the regime\u2019s bureaucrats decide to harass or to exclude through their discretionary powers.<\/p>\n

Such arbitrary powers can be abused under specific political instructions which are conveyed either officially or unofficially. \u2018Anti-national\u2019 Hindus are not safe; most vulnerable are the poor. People from the queer community can also be on the hit-list: over 2000 people from the transgender community have found their names to be missing from the final list of the Assam NRC.<\/p>\n

Passport, Voter ID, PAN card, Driving License and Aadhaar Card won\u2019t be of any use to prove citizenship: they are all useless. One has to furnish historical documents pertaining to one\u2019s lineage \u2013 one\u2019s ancestors and one\u2019s own life in India \u2013 before the designated cut-off mark: 1971 or 1951 or some other date.<\/p>\n

Let me quote Harsh Mander, the former IAS officer, writer and activist who has worked closely with communities in Assam that are most affected by exclusion from NRC:<\/p>\n

\u2018I have witnessed the incredible levels of suffering created by the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam. Impoverished rural people, often landless and unlettered, stalked all their meagre belongings and many years to gather documents to prove that they were citizens. These certificates of birth, schooling, land-ownership and voters lists dating back several decades are such that most of us would find impossible to muster. Even a small discrepancy in spelling was sufficient for these documents to be rejected. The consequences of such rejection were catastrophic. You could be sent to detention centres for years, with no hope of release. Finding names missing from NRC lists, or when loved ones were exiled to detention centres, several committed suicide in despair.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Final Summation <\/strong><\/p>\n

*Let us understand the trial we all are going to face if a nationwide NRC is forced upon us: even after being born in India and having lived here for 40 years or more \u2013 with all the legal documents of citizenship from the Passport to the Voters ID \u2013 we can be rendered \u2018stateless and illegal\u2019 if we fail to furnish documents pertaining to our lineage.<\/p>\n

Errors of all kinds in this massive bureaucratic exercise \u2013 from a mistake in name to a wrong clerical input \u2013 have also created devastating consequences. Mothers who have been accepted as legal citizens haven\u2019t found the names of their children in the NRC and they are running from pillar to post \u2013 in a state of utter panic \u2013 to find a solution with their meagre resources.<\/p>\n

How tragic is this? How unjust? How cruel? How insane? It\u2019s dystopia. But it\u2019s all real; all true. And it\u2019s happening right in front of our eyes; but our minds have been diverted elsewhere, and our awareness have been kept distracted.<\/p>\n

*There are more questions than answers. Why is this trail of fire necessary in the time of grave economic meltdown? Why trouble the poorest of the poor who have been forced to skip a meal to survive?<\/p>\n

Why do we have to prove our citizenship to the regime that has come to power with our votes?<\/p>\n

Just to identify and capture 10-20 million \u2018intruders\u2019 (1-2 crore out of 130 crores or .7 % to 1.6 % of the total population) and incarcerate them in detention centres funded by taxpayers\u2019 money?<\/p>\n

Or the actual goal is to disenfranchise a vast swath of targeted people from all citizenship rights \u2013 from voting to land ownership \u2013 in line with an insidious political ideology?<\/p>\n

The sinister agenda of this \u2018scheme\u2019 can no longer be hidden.\u00a0 An investigation<\/span><\/a> by Kunal Purohit published in The Wire<\/em> has found that BJP-linked WhatsApp groups have mounted a massive campaign to foment communalism, spread disinformation, fake news and blame Muslims for anti-CAA protests. The proponents of Hindutva Rashtra \u2013 masquerading as Hindu Rashtra \u2013 are fantasising of disenfranchising Indian citizens of one particular religion. They have advertised CAA and the upcoming NRC as a tool to \u2018kick Muslims out of India\u2019 and \u2018reduce Muslim population\u2019.<\/p>\n

*India is building detention centres<\/span><\/a> just like the Nazis built detention centres for political prisoners in 1933. Those detention centres became labour camps to house slave labour who toiled in the nearby industries. Then those labour camps progressed to become concentration camps: they got filled with Jews, communists, disabled, gays and whoever the Nazi regime wished to eliminate. Eventually what started as detention centres, ended as death camps.<\/p>\n

Aren\u2019t we progressing on the same path? Is it alarmist to see the similar progression to the abyss?<\/p>\n

*India \u2013 the land of Gandhi and Buddha \u2013 has been put under Genocide Watch: global alerts have been issued in regard to Kashmir and Assam. US professor Gregory Stanton \u2013 who created the classification \u201910 stages of Genocide\u2019 \u2013 also made a statement at a briefing to the US Congress on NRC. He thinks that a \u2018preparation for a genocide is definitely under way in India<\/span><\/a>\u2019.<\/p>\n

*Analysts are comparing CAA with the racist Nuremberg Laws of the Nazis and the racial laws brought in by the Myanmar junta \u2013 supported by Israel\u2019s role<\/span><\/a> in genocidal campaign against the Rohingya: as revealed by Haaretz<\/em> \u2013 to discriminate and dehumanise the Muslim people of the Rakhine province.<\/p>\n

*Will people docilely consent to be packed off to detention centres? Will the tormented souls \u2013 on the verge of losing everything \u2013 accept inhumane injustice with candle light marches? Can they remain pacifists? Won\u2019t they rage? Won\u2019t there be anarchy? Will India be at peace? Will the \u2018normalcy\u2019 of curfew, internet shutdown and army jackboots boost the GDP? Will the full-time job of the police be to brutalise those who simply don\u2019t agree and refuse to fall in line? Will India develop, grow and prosper amidst such chaos, oppression and tragedy?<\/p>\n

*What kind of \u2018New India\u2019 are we creating? A Hindu Pakistan, a Zionist theocracy, a fascist plutocracy, a corporate kakistocracy, a democratic dictatorship, a banana republic, a neoliberal hell-hole?<\/p>\n

*Things have gone too far: even a group of supporters of the \u2018nationalist\u2019 regime are feeling discomforted with the current realities. But the zombie virus \u2013 spread by a relentless propaganda machinery \u2013 has disfigured too many minds. We need to recover sense. We need to stop the final descent into mindlessness, evil, tyranny and madness.<\/p>\n

Demonetisation, poorly planned GST and unfettered Neoliberal polices have decimated our economy. Our social fabric is fractured with relentless hate, fear and bigotry. Uncertainty has crippled our minds. Demagoguery has poisoned our veins. India is terminally sick. But the civil resistance to the regime \u2013 fuelled by the university students \u2013 is also rising.<\/p>\n

The pernicious plan of a nationwide NRC will be the proverbial \u2018final nail in the coffin\u2019: the chance of any collective socio-economic recovery in the short and medium-term will be ruined.<\/p>\n

NRC will also be the final stab into our collective conscience and an assault to erase India\u2019s soul. All the higher values and elevated principles which our true patriotism, religions, traditions and Constitution hold dear are being replaced with base emotions and vile ideas. This needs to stop. Illogic \u2013 used to defend the indefensible \u2013 deforms the self. Lies, chicanery, chutzpah and hubris don\u2019t lead to paradise. The trail of blood doesn\u2019t lead to salvation.<\/p>\n

We need the temperance of the soul, not the mania of the ego. We need to heal from the traumas which have been inflicted upon us. Now we need schools and hospitals, not detention centres.<\/p>\n

At such times which are so critical, those who are refusing to speak are actually conveying a lot. Their silence is loud and clear: they don\u2019t care or they are scared or they are complicit. Silence is also the speech of approval.<\/p>\n

But for the rest of us, this is not the moment to be an apathetic fool or a spineless coward. Outrage is required. Speak out. Discuss. Join the protests. Talk to your networks. Make people understand. Spread truth. Share a post. Write a note. Do your bit. Nothing is insignificant.<\/p>\n

Every act of dissent adds up, as every deed adds up to become us: our essential character.<\/p>\n

Now is the moment to be on the right side of history. Stand up against inhumanity. Stand up against injustice. Stand up against fascism. Stand up for the Constitution. Stand up for your country. Stand up for all your people. Raise your clenched fist in the air. Feel the fire in your heart. Say #NoNPR #NoCAA #NoNRC. We must bring this nightmare to an end. Or else we all will get scorched in the mayhem. So will India and her destiny.<\/p>\n

[The views expressed belong solely to the author, and may not reflect the opinions of the editorial team]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We need to heal from the traumas which have been inflicted upon us. Now we need schools and hospitals, not detention centres.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":7777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[69,68,76,37],"tmauthors":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7776","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-opinion","8":"tag-caa","9":"tag-citizenship-amendment-act","10":"tag-npr","11":"tag-nrc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7776"},{"taxonomy":"tmauthors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thebengalstory.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tmauthors?post=7776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}