Arise Bharat

Indian citizens and their citizenship

Any minority living in India, especially Muslim brothers and sisters, need not
have any fear. This law is not going to take away anyone’s citizenship. This
was said by the country’s Home Minister Amit Shah himself and he said,
“Everyone should have faith in the Home Minister of the country, whether he is
a majority or a minority.”

There is no threat to Indian Muslims from this law
No rights of Muslims are lost in this law. This is a law to give citizenship, not to
take citizenship. Therefore do not fall prey to any misleading propaganda. This
law has nothing to do with the citizenship of Muslims in India.

Why was the need for this law felt?
This bill would never have come to Parliament had India not been partitioned.
This bill was introduced by Home Minister Amit Shah to solve the situations
that arose after the partition. Had the previous governments come up with a
solution, had the country not been divided based on religion, then this bill
would not have been brought.

Minorities in Pakistan vs Minorities in India
Under the Nehru-Liaquat Pact, both sides agreed that people from minority
communities would be given equality like the majority. Their freedom of
occupation, expression, and worship will also be ensured. This promise was
made to the minorities but in Pakistan people were prevented from even
contesting the elections! Their numbers kept on decreasing, whereas in India
there have been minorities in many high positions like President, Vice
President, and Chief Justice. Here (in India) minorities were protected.

Secular law

Those opposing the law focus only on why Muslims are not being brought. Will
your secularism be based only on Muslims? But in reality, this law does not
mean secularism or based on any one religion! Provision has been made in
this law for those who are being tortured on religious grounds in neighboring
countries. Efforts have been made to solve the problem of such people by
giving them Indian citizenship. Under the law made by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s government, the refugees can admit without fear that yes,
they are refugees, give us citizenship and the government will give them
citizenship.

Why give citizenship to minorities of only three countries?
When Indira Gandhi accepted refugees from Bangladesh in 1971, why were
refugees from Sri Lanka not accepted? Problems are solved at the
appropriate time. This should not be given a political color.

Article 14 will not be violated
The right to equality enshrined in Article 14 does not prevent us from making
such laws which are based on reasonable classification. There is a
reasonable classification here. There is no provision for a particular religion in
the law. This is for all the minorities in the three countries who are persecuted
based on religion.

Why not Rohingya Muslims?
As far as Rohingya are concerned, they do not come directly to our country.
They first go to Bangladesh and then infiltrate from there.

Security promise of north-eastern states
While placing this bill in Parliament, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “I
want to assure the people of Sikkim and North East that Article 371 will not
face any problem due to this bill. We are not going to remove this article from
anywhere. We will fully comply with the Assam Accord. We must protect the
culture of Assam and we will fulfill it.”