No you stupid, lying fuck. I knew Modi's footsoldiers will storm this post with lies and evasion. Here is some additional information which help set the context. I welcome EVERYONE who can add information from credible sources. Requesting everyone to read and VERIFY. This includes verifying whatever I say here as well.
1. First of all it has ceased to be a bill, it is an enforceable act now.
2. The Act allows "persecuted minorities" i.e every religion except Muslims. It leaves out persecuted MUSLIM minorities like Shias, Ahmadiyyas who are also religious minorities and also persecuted. The legal backers of the act walk around it with the reasoning that they are .....drumrolll.....sects! Also, if you're an atheist, you aren't covered under the law. Does the Indian government know how ex-Muslims are treated in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan? They do know, but they won't include them. And Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Parsis, Buddhists have nowhere else to go? Surely this dumb bitch is joking. Additionally, if the act was so humane, it would let persecuted Tamil Hindus fromSri Lanka to be citizens as well. Tamil Sri Lankans are still recovering from a three decade long war that ravaged their culture and population. Why are they not included then?. We know why, because the Hindu nationalist government just wants to suppress Muslims and threaten their citizenship. They don't give a fuck about Hindus, let alone any other minorities.
3. This Act has everything to do with every INDIAN CITIZEN and not just Muslims because it will be applied in tandem with the National Registry of Citizens (NRC). Now to appear in NRC, it is not enough that you were born and lived your whole life in India even if you are as old as 60. It is also not enough if your parents and you were born and lived your whole life in India. You are also supposed to prove to a bench that your parents are your parents. Your spouse is your spouse, your child is your child. Poor, dispossessed people often do not have access to these documents (because they have just been demanded?) The government is demanding a barrage of documents from poor people, indigenous people, nomads and people who live in deep forested areas. All this WHILE THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE COUNTRY DOESN'T HAVE CREDIBLE DOCUMENTS TO PROVE THAT HE GRADUATED COLLEGE.
Disproportionately women and children are not able to 'prove' these linkages. And if you do all this, just an anonymous complaint can strike you off this list. This is how 4 million people in only one state in India: Assam, have been deemed as foreigners and non-citizens. This includes soldiers, this includes even Members of Legislative Assembly, this includes the granddaughter of a freedom fighter, this includes the family of a former President! Imagine. This is just one state in India. Less than 2% of the population! The people who do not feature in NRC are kept in detention centres that are worse than ones set up by ICE. People have died there, people who have been mistakenly taken to the centres, children of people who were incorrectly taken. Detention centres are inhumane, full stop. But imagine how inhumane detention centres would be in a country already lacking resources. And hey, again, this just happened in one state of Assam, IT IS PLANNED TO BE IMPLEMENTED ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
4. Muslims and anyone else can still apply for citizenship through naturalisation. It has its own guidelines and stipulations. Except non-Muslims from these three countries can apply for citizenship WITHOUT fulfilling any of the stipulations. This is a contravention of Article 14 of the Constitution that guarantees equality before law of every PERSON (and NOT CITIZEN). It is against the spirit of the Constitution because it ensures equality, justice and secularism to ALL.
5. Supposed beneficiaries of this act have also rejected it. This just proves that the law passed for optics of humanity, while being inherently oppressive, unequal and discriminatory.
6. 2 days ago, the Prime Minister publicaly said that the "rioters can be identified by their clothes" a dog whistle, hinting at the traditional clothing of Muslims and labelling them as terrorists. Again, this is the Prime Minister of a Hindu Nationalist Party. BJP has had to many crimes on its hands to not be considered fascist. There are thousands and thousands of readings you can do to know about the rise of BJP and Hindu nationalism.
Additionally, I have been asked to mention the dates of these protests so the post doesn't circulate in the coming months. I highly DOUBT that the protests and the struggle will die down in the near future, but this is me posting on 18th December, 2019. For everyone asking my location, yes I am in India, in Delhi, in the midst of the protests. I have been going to the protests every single day for the past week.
