India is considering a ban on Muslim immigrants

The Indian government is considering a ban on Muslim immigrants, and the ruling party is siphoning migrants from Bangladesh for re-election, says writer Sandaand Dum in an article in The Wall Street Journal.

He wonders: Will India remain a secular state committed to treating all religions on an equal footing, or will it gradually become an open Hindu state, where the Muslim minority remains the same?

The debate over immigrants may be the answer to the writer's question, which adds that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party wants to accelerate the granting of citizenship to non-Muslim immigrants from neighboring countries, with the clear exclusion of Muslims.

He adds that this "stupid idea" has gained popularity and acceptance, bringing votes to the party in the current elections, but at the expense of undermining interfaith harmony and sowing long-term internal instability and tarnishing the country's reputation for tolerance.

Naturalization
He notes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government was unable earlier this year to pass a proposed law that would make it easier for followers of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Genocide, Zoroastrian and Christian religions from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to become Indian citizens.

With the elections in India for weeks, the issue of naturalization has returned to prominence as part of a wider attempt by Bharatiya Janata to unify Hindu voices by raising the level of anti-Muslim rhetoric.

In a rally in West Bengal last week, ruling party leader Amit Shah compared Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh to "termites" who "eat the grain that should go to the poor," according to the writer.

The party leader promised that if his party could form a government, it would expel "infiltrators" except Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs.

Minorities
The promise of welcoming the religious minorities he describes as oppressed to come to India is difficult to challenge, he said, referring to minority Sikhs, Hindus in Pakistan, Hindus and Buddhists in Bangladesh.

The ruling party's president's comments may apply only to irregular migrants - the author says - but end up legitimizing a flammable idea.

Vision
The writer criticizes the idea of ​​Shah, which may be legitimized and flammable, adding that India faces a challenge to integrate the Muslim minority. It is no accident that Bharatiya Janata directs its fiery message to parts of the country where some Hindus already feel threatened by demographic change.

The article notes that Shah made his statements in West Bengal, where more than a quarter of the population is Muslim.

He says India is still dangerously away from the spirit of pluralism towards Hindu chauvinism, noting that Bharatiya Janata nominated Wednesday a woman he described as a hard-line militant who faces trial for bombings against Muslims.

The article concludes that the smart country may choose to see the Hindu philosopher and monk Vive Kananda rather than the narrow vision of Shah, and that the alternative is to erode the secular charter of 1.3 billion people.