A friend of mine had some basic questions regarding all the protests that are happening all around the country. The same lingering questions are being raised by certain media outlets and also the ruling political party on the issues related to CAA, NRC, NPR, etc. His question was do all the protestors are aware of what these laws are about and their implications.
But I feel it is incorrect to believe that protesters do not know what they are protesting about, while the government says that there is a confusion in the minds of protesters and lack of knowledge about its legislation and proposed actions on the citizenship. But the fact of the matter is, that we are seeing wider and more passionate resistance to the government since 2014. The question is why ?
From Assam to Kerala, from Delhi to Tamil Nadu, from towns, and villages, young people are on the march. A rattled government is unsure what to do. It shuts mobile services, Metro stations, schools, and colleges, and declares Sec144, a British Invention to suppress the freedom of movement. It was ineffective then, and its proving to be ineffective even now.
The government ‘s analysis of illegal immigrants is not misplaced. People have indeed sneaked in, through India’s porous borders, from countries like Bangladesh, and Nepal, etc. However their numbers are not enormous enough to justify a nationwide NRC, which seems to have been designed with the same logic as Demonetisation -- weed out a few corrupt elements and put to inconvenience the whole population and the result, we have all seen, I don't need to elaborate on it. This also may lead to unintended consequences, just like in the case of Demonetisation. Rather than spending huge amounts on such disruptive exercises, the government should take measures to prevent illegal immigration, by taking steps like better border protection, technological surveillance and entering into agreements with neighbouring countries, etc.
Even the UN voiced concern, the High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was “concerned” that the Citizenship Amendment Act was fundamentally discriminatory.” Dismissing all criticism with his customary pomposity our Union HM said protest as much you want, the CAA will be implemented at any cost. Maybe for this very reason, the New York Times meant wrote “Modi makes his bigotry even clearer”
The size and spread of the protests show how wrong this reading has become, but don’t expect any course correction.
But I feel it is incorrect to believe that protesters do not know what they are protesting about, while the government says that there is a confusion in the minds of protesters and lack of knowledge about its legislation and proposed actions on the citizenship. But the fact of the matter is, that we are seeing wider and more passionate resistance to the government since 2014. The question is why ?
From Assam to Kerala, from Delhi to Tamil Nadu, from towns, and villages, young people are on the march. A rattled government is unsure what to do. It shuts mobile services, Metro stations, schools, and colleges, and declares Sec144, a British Invention to suppress the freedom of movement. It was ineffective then, and its proving to be ineffective even now.
The government ‘s analysis of illegal immigrants is not misplaced. People have indeed sneaked in, through India’s porous borders, from countries like Bangladesh, and Nepal, etc. However their numbers are not enormous enough to justify a nationwide NRC, which seems to have been designed with the same logic as Demonetisation -- weed out a few corrupt elements and put to inconvenience the whole population and the result, we have all seen, I don't need to elaborate on it. This also may lead to unintended consequences, just like in the case of Demonetisation. Rather than spending huge amounts on such disruptive exercises, the government should take measures to prevent illegal immigration, by taking steps like better border protection, technological surveillance and entering into agreements with neighbouring countries, etc.
Even the UN voiced concern, the High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was “concerned” that the Citizenship Amendment Act was fundamentally discriminatory.” Dismissing all criticism with his customary pomposity our Union HM said protest as much you want, the CAA will be implemented at any cost. Maybe for this very reason, the New York Times meant wrote “Modi makes his bigotry even clearer”
The size and spread of the protests show how wrong this reading has become, but don’t expect any course correction.
