New Indian Nationality Law: How will the system face massive demonstrations and world condemnation?

The origin of the problem
Muslims are a victim
Wide condemnation

When the Indian government passed the amended nationality law through both houses of parliament in early December, it was not in its mind that it would face massive demonstrations across the country and with strong global political and media condemnation. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe canceled his visit to India because of these demonstrations, and two Bangladeshi ministers canceled their visits to India to protest India's claim that there are Bangladeshi intruders in India.

While Human Rights Watch said that this law contravenes India's international obligations, the Indian Constitutional Supreme Court last Wednesday examined (59) pleadings against this law from Indian parties, associations, and personalities, all of which demanded the repeal of this law or at least the cessation of its implementation.

The court did not accept these requests, but it was set on January 22 to consider these arguments, which say that this law violates the principle of equality between citizens and clashes with the spirit of the Indian constitution because it prevents Muslims from giving benefits to others.

The government of Prime Minister Narendar Modi has found herself confused: She did not expect so much opposition to the law and demonstrations against him in all parts of the country, and even in foreign countries, which caused Interior Minister Amit Shah - who is Modi’s right arm - to say that the government is ready to review this is the law.

The origin of the problem
The idea of ​​amending the Indian Nationality Act of 1955 was born when the Indian government was surprised last August that the majority of those whose applications were rejected for citizenship in Assam state were Hindus, presumed to have come from Bangladesh to escape persecution or to seek better life chances.

There has been a grassroots movement in the state of Assam in north-eastern India since the end of the 1970s to drive "Bangladeshis" out, because they take away employment opportunities from the indigenous Assamese population and put their culture at risk. The Indian government then signed a treaty with the leaders of this movement in August 1985, stipulating that a census of the state's residents be conducted and considered an Indian whoever proves that he was present in the state before 1971, that is, before the birth of the state of Bangladesh. Propaganda has always said that the vast majority of "Bangladeshi" intruders are Muslims.

This census could only be conducted this year (2019) when it was announced that about two million people in Assam are foreign intruders. But the result surprised the Indian government led by the Indian People’s Party with extremist Hindu tendencies, because the majority of those whose names were crossed out from the records of nationality were from Hindus while the aim behind the census was to delete the names of Muslims from the records of nationality.

Here the government considered amending the Indian Nationality Act of 1955 by inserting an article saying that India will accept immigrants from three neighboring countries: Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan; provided that they are Hindus, Christians, and Sikhs, that is, with the exception of Muslims. Consequently, the Nationality Law was amended this month to introduce this clause in it so that Indian citizenship could be given to those whose names were crossed out from nationality records except for Muslims, and the Indian People's Party was able to pass this law by exploiting its majority in Parliament.

The amended Nationality Law has been drafted in a clever manner that shows that the Indian government is concerned with a humanitarian issue is to help persecuted religious minorities in neighboring countries, while the original goal is to convert millions of Indian Muslims to the "Bidoon" in their country. The plan was that any Hindu who was deprived of his nationality because of his failure to provide the required documents would be given citizenship through the back door using this new article.

The Assamese understood this game and were the first to revolt against this amended law, and demonstrations in Assam state have continued since then. The authorities were forced to send the army there to quell the demonstrations, and Assam followed the six remaining eastern Indian states that also complained of "intruders", who had settled in them since ancient times, limiting the influence of indigenous peoples.

These seven states (including Assam) are in constant protest and disobedience, despite the announcement by the Indian government that it is ready to exclude these states from the new law, and it is afraid that the survival of this law may lead to its implementation in its future areas.

Later these demonstrations spread to other parts of India initiated by Muslims who understood that they are the real victims of this new law, which protects Hindus who will fail to present papers proving their Indian nationality, as they will be accepted through a back door.

Other groups of society have joined these protests, including students in hundreds of universities and colleges, human rights activists, and leaders of political parties - such as the Congress Party - who oppose this law and see it as implementation of Hindu political extremist movement designs.

Muslims are a victim
Muslims are advancing the ranks of the demonstrators because the new law considers them second-class citizens, and their nationalities will be withdrawn in order to live on the margins of life because they will not be able to leave for another country; Pakistan or Bangladesh will not accept them let alone other countries, or the West who cannot absorb large numbers without shaking His social security.

Bangladesh showed its anger at India when it formally protested this law, and canceled the visit of two Bangladeshi ministers to India to protest against this law and the accompanying propaganda on "Bangladeshi intruders," and also asked India for a list of Bangladeshis residing in the territory of India to invite them to return.

Bangladesh believes that the Indian propaganda that millions of Bangladeshis, Hindus, have migrated to India to escape persecution, which is a reason against Bangladesh, which is keen to protect its minorities. Also, Bangladesh says that its economic conditions are better than India; so why would any Bangladeshi immigrate to India? That is why the ambassador of Bangladesh in India cynically said: "The Bangladeshi will float the seas to reach Italy, but he will not come to India on foot."

The process of renewing the "nationality registry" will begin in April and end in November. During the field survey, the papers of all residents of India will be checked, and they will have to provide certain documents such as birth certificate, land ownership certificate, or secondary certificate issued before a specific year (believed to be 1987), while the specific year for Assam residents was 1971 considering the emergence of Bangladesh as the deadline for acceptance Immigrants from those lands that were then called "East Pakistan".

Since about 45% of the population of India is illiterate, and most of them live in villages where they do not have such papers except for a few who own the land, large numbers of citizens - including Hindus - will struggle to search for papers and extract old papers, and even forge them after paying Big bribes and expenses.

This process will last years and those who will be declared "intruders" will be deprived of government facilities, such as introducing their children to free public schools and benefiting from the services of dispensaries and government hospitals, and joining government jobs or obtaining loans from banks, and on official papers such as passports, driving license and subsidized food cards And pensions. They will remain on the margins of life for many years until the government changes and a solution is found for them.

The Indian government has planned to place these "Bidun" in detention camps. Indeed, orders were issued by the Indian Ministry of the Interior of the Indian states last July to set up concentration camps on their lands, to house the illegal population while they were expelled from the country.

Dozens of these concentration camps are already in place in Assam, where the conditions of the detainees are very poor. Dozens of them have died due to negligence and malnutrition, and the administration of these detention centers is costing the state a lot as it is responsible for meeting the needs of the detainees, just as prison prisoners are treated.

This diabolical idea - which has no analogy in modern history after Hitler's detention - stems from the philosophy of the Hindu political movement (Hindutua) which says that India is home to Hindus only, and only non-Hindus are guests in the country who must accept what is given to them and they are not entitled to claim any Thing. The Indian People's Party (now ruling) is the political wing of this movement, and it wants to implement all of its program provisions for the remainder of its government’s mandate that will end in May 2024.

Wide condemnation
The current Indian government has already achieved some of its goals such as abolishing the autonomous status of Kashmir, which was the only Indian state with a Muslim majority, and the government has succeeded in extracting the Supreme Court’s decision to give the land of the Babri Mosque to Hindus, changed the Islamic personal status law, and plans to implement a civil status law Standardized in the near future, to deny Muslims the work of Islamic law, even with regard to personal status such as marriage, divorce and inheritance.

The Indian People's Party believes that with such tricks, he can win general elections a third time after five years, but the indicators say the opposite, because the economic situation is dire, the national product and the national consumption rates are constantly declining amid an economic depression that the country has not witnessed previously, along with the political setbacks of the party recently. In state elections such as Maharashtra, where the "Chow Sina" party broke its decades-old alliance with the Indian People's Party, and joined opposition parties to form the state government.

Observers here believe that the Indian People's Party will continue to raise emotional issues for Hindus to attract them and get their votes, but the continued decline of the Indian economy will eliminate the chances of the People's Party to win the elections again.

Therefore, he might resort to dragging Pakistan into a war to achieve a sharp polarization that would benefit from him before the next general elections, as happened before the previous general elections when India took advantage of a terrorist incident in Pulwama, Kashmir, last February, to launch attacks on targets in Pakistan that had a great impact in Achieve sharp polarization that the party benefited politically from in the elections.

It is noted that the protests that have been going on for days in all parts of India are not only attended by Muslims, but there are increasing numbers of non-Muslims joining them, especially in Indian universities, where demonstrations take place every day in hundreds of Indian universities and colleges in all parts of the country, especially after the police assault Terribly for the students of the Islamic Milliah University in Delhi and the Islamic University in Alikarah.

The authorities were forced to completely close these two universities until January 5 with the removal of their students from student dormitories, in addition to declaring a curfew and stopping Internet, mobile and social media services in many places to curb the demonstrations.

Although the Islamic world is silent about these developments targeting the largest Muslim minority in the world, we see the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the US State Department and human rights organizations - such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch - denouncing what is happening and warning her of the consequences of this Indian move.

Observers believe that the new Indian measures could easily descend to Burma's policy toward the Rohingya, or China’s policy towards its Muslim citizens in the Xinjiang (East Turkestan) region. Many western newspapers - such as The New York Times and The Washington Post - have strongly condemned these steps, and India has warned that it will lose its own ties with the West, which it benefits greatly in its economic and technological advancement and its political standing in the international community.