Why is the government passing Bills that require extensive debate at the fag end of its tenure? The aim appears to be to capture a vote bank without pondering over the after effects on other Indian citizens (Page 1, “Lok Sabha passes Citizenship Bill amidst Congress walkout” and “Protests rock northeastern states”, both January 9). The Bill appears to be only another form of selective immigrant appeasement.
Georgil K. Jeemon,
Ernakulam, Kerala
The Bill falls short of the government’s own laudable claims and objectives of providing shelter to the minorities in India’s neighbourhood on at least two counts. One, it sets a cut-off date of December 31, 2014, which leaves in the lurch those who may face persecution and seek shelter in India after this date. This is inhuman abandonment of the spirit of protecting the persecuted minorities.. Two, the Bill restricts its concerns to the minorities of three Muslim-majority countries in the neighbourhood, ignoring the fact of persecution in other countries bordering India.
Indeed, people from a Hindu background have not only faced denial of rights and violence but have even been forced to flee at least two of India’s neighbouring countries not mentioned in the Bill. Moreover, by not providing any shelter to those who face persecution for their dissent and human rights work or for their sectarian identity and contrarian views within Islam, the Bill takes a narrow conception of minority and persecution and thereby fails India’s constitutional spirit and tradition of humanity and large-heartedness.
Firoz Ahmad
New Delhi