CAA is hurting India, massively

As shown by the massive protests in India, the notorious Citizenship Amendment Act or the CAA, one of the world’s most discriminatory laws based on religion and against the spirit of Indian democracy and secularism, has deeply hurt India’s image across the world. So says former Indian National Security Adviser and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon. He recently warned the Modi Sarkar that India will face diplomatic isolation because of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

“Cumulative effect of a series of actions, including what happened in Kashmir. We seem to know we are isolated. External Affairs Minister ducked a meeting with US legislators.” He said that global public opinion on India had shifted if one saw the international press and even India’s friends were speaking in a dismissive manner about the internal developments in the country.

Menon, noting that even the Kashmir issue that was dormant at the United Nations since 1971 had been revived, added: “Bangladesh Foreign Minister said ‘let them fight among themselves’. If this is how our friends feel, what must our adversaries feel… We have lost India’s ability to be an example and a model for other countries in the subcontinent.”

These words by Menon need no elaboration. But Menon further admitted there has been no meaningful international support for India’s recent actions, barring some diaspora members and extreme-right parliamentarians. On the other hand, the list of critical voices abroad is quite long including France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, he stated.

Observers in the region are warning that apart from destabilising the internal situation in India, the CAA has given birth to multiple regional problems. Now millions of stateless refugees could go to Bangladesh from India, which had faced a similar situation when Rohingyas from Myanmar’s Rakhine State started facing forcible displacement in 2015. Bangladesh wants a written assurance from the Modi government that it would not send immigrants across the border after the enactment of the CAA. But so far it has not been forthcoming. Consequently, Bangladesh government late last year suspended mobile services in areas along the border "until further notice for the sake of the country’s security in the current circumstances". The decision has affected around 10 million users in 32 districts of Bangladesh along the border.

Even neutral observers believe that the CAA is an injustice not only with the Muslim community but also Dalit, Tribal (Adivasi), Vanvasi, Tamil, Gorkha and atheists.

Also the law is a precursor to a national register of citizens that many among India’s 200 plus million Muslims believe will leave them stateless as many poor Indians did not get documents over the years that could prove their nationality.

In addition, some 106 members of India’s Constitutional Conduct Group, retired top bureaucrats, have openly warned about the dangers of CAA and NRC. They said in their open letter to Modi Sarkar: “There have also been media reports, not denied by the Government of India, that orders for setting up detention camps have been given to all state governments. Reports have documented the construction of such camps in states as far apart as Goalpara in Assam and Nelamangala in Karnataka and the intention to construct a detention centre in Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra. The Government of India has not come out with any statistics to show that the illegal migrants problem in India is so severe that it requires the large-scale construction of detention camps all over the country.”

One can now say that CAA and NRC indicate a neo-Nazi mindset driven by the RSS ideology. Welcome to new India!