Citizenship Amendment Act
Citizenship Amendment Act
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed in both the houses of Indian Parliament, after majority of members voted in favour of the Act.
Immigrant issue started after partition of India in 1947. Several Prime Ministers in the past including Congress Prime Ministers wanted to regularize the citizenship in India , but they were not courageous enough to catch the bull by the horn.Now, Modi government has tackled the issue in a democratic way,
CAA was extensively discussed in both the houses of Parliament, highlighting the plus and minus of the issue and finally majority opinion prevailed. This is the democratic and only civilized way of taking decisions. In a healthy democracy and in orderly society, it is necessary that the majority opinion should be accepted gracefully by all concerned.
Unfortunately, some political parties and activists have wanted to defy the decision of the Parliament and have whipped up public agitation against CAA and inciting hatred and violence to convert the issue to one of bitter confrontation. This has resulted in huge violence and in the process, tarnishing the fair image of India as a progressive and forward looking nation in the eyes of the world.
Agitation which was supposed to have been started by the student community (obviously, number of them are politicians in the making), it has been taken over by a few political parties and section of activists and even section of media that are giving wide publicity to protests and not condemning the violence. It is very sad that breaking the public properties and setting fire to the police vehicles and police stations have been described and even justified by the opposition political parties and section of activists and media, as reflecting the anger of the people, which amount to justifying the violence and hooliganism.
In recent time, it is shocking to hear some of the opposition party leaders demanding that CAA issue should be taken to United Nations. Obviously, they do not seem to have any sense of proportion or care, while making such statement.
It appears that opposition political parties and some activists who could not defeat Mr.Modi in election, want to defeat him in street by encouraging violence. One gets an impression that they want to reap political benefits for themselves by creating situation of law and order problem and chaos.
India consist of more than 1300 million people.Number of those who are indulging in violence are a few hundreds. They are not representative gathering of Indian citizens and do not reflect the overall view in the countryman. However, a few hundreds of persons can disrupt the society and normal life by indulging in violent behaviour ,particularly in a country like India where there is no clear understanding about the limits of democracy. Freedom cannot be absolute to do anything but freedom has its limits. One cannot break public properties and call it freedom.
Matter of great concern is, that if mob violence would force the government to take decisions, then what will be future of India ?
Obviously, this is a critical situation and Government of India has to act very strongly using stick and carrot approach.
While the issue of CAA has to be explained to the people by the government, as suggested by Chief Justice of India, those who indulge in violence should not be allowed to go scot free.
India's stability would be threatened, if mob psychology of forcing their will on the country would become a habit , as it now appears to be happening. Several projects have been stopped or suspended in India in recent past, due to public protest and agitation often supported by political parties and some activists, even though concerned authorities have carried out detailed investigation and approved the projects.
In many of such cases, state governments and some time central government have bowed to the will of the mob and in the process, India has lost many opportunities. This situation cannot be allowed to continue any longer.
There are millions of hard working people in India who silently carry on with their tasks and contribute to the country's as well as their family welfare. They are watching the present scenario of mob forcing decisions with great concern. Vast country like India should not be allowed to be led by small group of violent prone protesters, hate mongers to force the course of events.
Government have great responsibility to put down the negative elements with all force at it's command for the sake of long term stability and progress of India. This would not be against the spirit of democracy but in favour of protecting the democratic spirit as well as the image and tradition of democracy.
N.S.Venkataraman
