The reasons for unabated slowdown of Indian economy aren't far-fetched. Fast or speedy growth warrants optimum utilization of country's men power as every hand matters to hasten the growth. But if a nation is rocked by one controversy after another and general atmosphere remains surcharged with high tempers, its economy is bound hasten to suffer.
This is what has been happening in India ever since saffron party came to power at New Delhi. Hatred, intolerance, mob lynching and saffronization of the institutional framework have been the order of the day in India. The end result is that economy, which was in fast-track mode till 2014 has backtracked.
From demonetization and Ram mandir (temple) to latest controversial issue of amendment to Citizenship Act, has, by and large, been sensitized to issues which were growth-inelastic. In other words, these issues have nothing to do with fast growth. For fast growth, what India need is to address the issues associated with employment generation, more and more focus on education, health and care and women empowerment (not increasing cases of rape), rural indebtedness which has paralyzed agriculture growth and so on. Alas! these issues were overpowered by saffron party's obsession with Hindutva agenda.
All the developed nations the world over during their transition period have addressed these issues on priority.The economist Prime Minister, Dr. Mammohan Singh tried to address these issues but the inherent contradictions of hotch-potch alliance and prevalence of one family hierarchy in Congress didn't allow the Dr. Singh the freedom, a fast-track mode of growth wanted. I feel, there is hardly any change in the autocratic style of functioning as all decisions under present dispensation are solely monopolized by Prime Minister and his office.
As if scrapping of India's only Muslim population majority state-Jammu & Kashmir was not enough Modi govt has now gone ahead with amendment of the Citizenship Bill. The Bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians, who entered India on or before 31 December 2014, eligible for Indian citizenship. However, Muslims from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan are excluded. This is a catch.
India recognizes a person as its citizen on the basis of birth, descent, registration and naturalization in accordance with the Citizenship Act of 1955, not by religion. The 1955 bill draws validity from Part-II of the Constitution, namely, Articles 5 to 9. This Act has been amended five times before in 1986, 1992, 2003, 2005 and 2015 . There were no controversy over earlier amendments. But the latest amendment by the Modi government (Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019) has run into a controversy.
Under the existing laws, an illegal migrant is not eligible to apply for acquiring citizenship - that is, barred from becoming an Indian citizen through registration or naturalization. The Foreigners Act and the Passport Act debar such a person and provide for putting an illegal migrant into jail or deportation.
A person can become an Indian citizen through registration if she has ordinarily lived in the country for six of last eight years in India and continuously for 12 months before submitting an application for citizenship. In the case of acquiring citizenship through naturalization, the person should be living in India for 14 years, 12 years of which should have been her cumulative stay in the country.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill 2019 seeks to make changes in the Citizenship Act, the Passport Act and the Foreigners Act if the illegal migrants belong to religious minority communities from three neighbouring countries of Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Citizenship Amendment Bill, if and when passed by Parliament, will neutralize the provisions that call for jailing and deporting illegal migrants provided they are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis or Christians from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan - all three Muslim majority countries.
Another key change that the Citizenship Amendment Bill aims to make is to reduce the period of stay in India before illegal non-Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan from 14 years to six years.
The Amended Bill is being opposed on the ground that it discriminates against Muslims. The discrimination runs contrary to Article 14. the corner stone of India's constitution. The article states, "The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India."Rights under Article 14 are absolute. These two fundamental rights are not exclusive to the citizens of India but to "any person". In this backdrop, the Opposition parties and activists have accused the BJP of signaling out the Muslims to further its "hidden agenda".
According to experts "Article 14 is not confined to the citizens. It gives benefits of equality to any person within the territory of India even to a foreigner," he said adding, "The Bill wants to create a class of refugees. In order to pass the test of permissible classification two conditions must be satisfied: (a) the classification must be founded on an intelligible differential which distinguishes person or thing that are grouped together from other left out (b) and the differential must have a direct nexus to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question.
There is no denying that the latest amendment to the Citizenship Bill is in line of Muhammad Ali Jinnah that led to the Partition of India in 1947. So if bill becomes law as there is a chance, it may not pass the scrutiny of jurisprudence. It may also lead to alienation of 201 million Muslims more intensely. Further more, it may balkanize the country. And all this will only hamper the fast-tracked growth.
(Chander Sharma)