The contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill 2016 needs to be defeated in the Rajya Sabha since it defies the popular will of the people of the North East. The BJP does not seem overly concerned by the protests from this region. The Party sent its senior functionary Ram Madhav to Assam to placate the people there but to no avail. Assam has borne the brunt of illegal immigration for decades, so much so, the demographics have changed in several districts of that state. While Muslim immigrants have become a majority in many constituencies in Assam the CAB now wants to offset that Muslim population by granting citizenship to Hindus from Bangladesh on the plea that they are being persecuted in that country. To allay the fears of the people of Assam and the North East, Home Minister Raj Nath Singh has said that citizenship would be granted to Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis and Buddhists, persecuted in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh based on certain conditionalities. A prime condition is that the person would not settle in the any of the North Eastern States but would have to settle in some other state of India. This is easier said than done. There are already many illegal settlers in the North East and they are biding their time to become legitimate citizens.
Two years ago when the Rohingyas were persecuted in Myanmar, India took a stiff stance that they would not be accommodated in India but would be deported immediately. So why the empathy only for Hindus and other religious minorities? And how can a country that opted to be secular because of its inherent contradictions, now grant citizenship on the basis of religion? This is defeating the very core of the Indian Constitution.
The BJP leaves no one in doubt as to the purpose of the CAB. It is purely for the purpose of garnering Hindu votes; nothing else. Now that poll surveys by creditable firms predict a downslide for the BJP, there is even greater fervor to consolidate Hindu votes. Other political parties are being labeled as catering to religious minorities at the cost of the majority Hindus. This polarization of the electorate is extremely dangerous in a country with a mixed demography. But the BJP is unconcerned about the dangers that such electoral pitches can unleash. Politics that uses religion as a catchword and jettisons the development plank is fatal for a country that has prided itself on the fundamental principle of unity in diversity and has tried to live up to this principle for a long time.