Image: Javed Raja / Indian Express
The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) has condemned the brutal crackdown on students protesting the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the upcoming nationwide exercise along the lines of Assam’s National Register of Citizens (NRC).
In a statement released on December 19, the IAMC says, “Earlier this month, India took a major step backwards to officially marginalize India’s Muslims as Parliament passed a Citizenship Amendment Bill (“CAB”), now the Citizenship Amendment Act (“CAA”), that makes religion a criterion for nationality for the first time. The act would give migrants of all of South Asia’s major religions — except Islam — a clear path to Indian citizenship. It is the most significant move yet to profoundly alter India’s secular nature enshrined by its founding leaders when the country gained independence in 1947. The law solidifies Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist agenda.”
Condemning the CAA-NRC, the statement further says, “The Citizenship Amendment Act was enacted prior to another draconian law akin to the Nuremberg law by Hitler in 1935, called the nationwide National Register of Citizens (“NRC”) that includes a far more sinister communal motive behind the exercise. NRC will force citizens all across the country to prove their citizenship by providing documents that are not easily available. Those that cannot prove, and if they are Muslims, will be assumed as foreigners and sent to mass detention centers and stripped of their citizenship. The law protects non-Muslims at the exclusion of Muslims by providing fast track citizenship via CAA to non-Muslim immigrants from neighboring countries. It openly discriminates against Muslims, making them second-class citizens, and undermines India’s secular foundations.”
The IAMC not only questions the exclusion of Sri Lankan Tamils, but also strongly condemns the brutality inflicted upon students who have been a part of the burgeoning protests. The statement says, “The protests in India are being met with a brutal police and RSS paramilitary crackdown. Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) condemns the brutal crackdown and supports the right of people to protest peacefully.”
Responding to the police brutality in India, the president of the Indian American Muslim Council, Ahsan Khan said, “We have watched this tragic unfolding of events with great concern and anguish. The all India National Register of Citizens (NRC) and Citizenship Amendment Law will have a primal impact on the Indian polity. This is a step towards rupturing India’s social fabric and students should at the very least have the democratic right to protest. The IAMC extends full solidarity to the students and teachers of Jamia Millia and AMU as they speak truth to power.”
“Our partnership with India is strategic, but also based on our shared values of democracy, religious pluralism and the respect of human rights. Under Modi and the BJP government all these mutual values have been threatened.” said Syed Ali, IAMC Vice President.
Faizan Syed, Executive Director of Council of American Islamic Relations, Texas also expressed concern stating that “Hindutva, which is ultra-Hindu nationalism, is undermining democracy in India and leading to instability which is impacting the lives of people in our community. Many local Texans have family members and business relationships in a country that is becoming increasingly hostile to them simply because of their ethnicity and religion.”
Dallas Fort-Worth is home to tens of thousands of people who are directly impacted by the ongoing protests in India as well as hundreds of businesses who do business in India. In response to these incidents in India, IAMC-Texas along with CAIR-Texas and other coalition partners calls on all people of conscience to rally and hold peaceful protests in Texas and nationwide to protest against the discriminatory and bigoted policies of the current Indian Administration and in support of the students’ and peoples’ movement against an authoritarian regime. The following protests have been planned so far:
- Friday, December 20, 3 – 6 PM, Indian Consulate, 4300 Scotland St, Houston, TX
- Saturday, December 21, 2:30 – 4:30 PM, Connecticut State Capitol, 210 Capitol Ave, Hartford, CT
- Sunday, December 22, 2 – 4 PM, Dealey Plaza, 400 Main St, Dallas, TX
- Sunday, December 22, 2 – 4 PM, 1100 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX