Expressing concern about the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and the the proposed National Register of Citizens, writer Boluvaru Mohammed Kunhi said on Sunday that it would be distressing for a writer who has stood for solidarity to have to prove his Indian citizenship.
Speaking after receiving the Sandesha award instituted by the Sandesha Foundation for Culture and Education, Mr. Kunhi said that by expressing his concern, he will probably be pursued as a spokesperson of Muslims. “It is an unfortunate state we are living in. We are branding people without properly understanding what is being said,” he said.
He said an impression was being created that those speaking against CAA were all Muslims. “If I speak against CAA, well-known writers whom I know tell me that they will stand by me. Who are they to say it? Is this not my country?” he asked.
Mr. Kunhi said that he was born in 1951 and his father was born before the formation of Pakistan and Bangladesh. “When this fact is known, it hurts if I am asked to prove myself an Indian citizen. Through my writings, I have always stood in solidarity with India,” he said.
Karnataka Sahitya Academy president B.V. Vasanth Kumar said that comparing the minority communities persecuted in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, for whom citizenship is being proposed, with Indian Muslims was an insult and injustice to the latter.
He said that by stating falsehoods about CAA, which does not say anything about sending Indian Muslims out, those opposing the amended Act were trying to recreate barriers between communities. “There is a need for writers to closely study the Act and stop telling lies,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Bishop of Ballari Henry D’Souza conferred the award on Mr. Kunhi and six others — Valli Vagga (Valerian D’Souza) of Bantwal, engineer Shiv Kumar from Bengaluru, Helen Correa nee D’Cruz, psychiatrist K.S. Pavithra, Justin D’Souza from Siddaganga Education Institution in Davangere, and bodybuilder Vincent Prakash Carlo. Each awardee received a purse of ₹25,000, a citation and a memento.