The law is discriminatory toward the Muslim minority and its implementation before the elections is a means to garner votes from the Hindu majority in the upcoming elections.
Divisiveness helps to electorally polarise and consolidate votes - something that Modi's BJP is clearly eyeing to benefit from. / Photo: Reuters Archive
Given that the stakes are incredibly high, the Indian government led by the BJP on Monday notified changes to the Citizenship Act of 2019, four years after it was enacted by Parliament in the face of stiff opposition both inside and outside the legislature. Though the government insisted that the amendments were aimed at assisting vulnerable people fleeing persecution from the neighbouring countries, it strangely excluded Muslim migrants from receiving such favourable treatment. Also excluded were the Tamils of Sri Lanka.
Given their suspicious nature, the amendments were resisted from the time they were conceptualised and brought before the parliament in 2019. Street protests erupted across the country, with a particularly stubborn sit-in staged in the capital, New Delhi, for months on end. Many were outraged that the government, through the amendments, was doing away with the principles of equality and plurality enshrined in the Constitution of a secular India.
The sect, numbering tens of thousands, has been demanding that the rules be made easier for Indian citizenship. Now that it has been done - including the replacement of strict documentation required earlier with far easier processes - the BJP expects the Matuas to pay back the favour with their votes.That it slept on the changes for four years after they were enacted means that the party has been carefully weighing the pros and cons.
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