The Citizenship Amendment Act, or CAA, is a law passed by the Indian Parliament in 2019. It aims to amend the country’s citizenship laws, defines illegal immigrants and lays down the rules and prerequisites for applying for Indian citizenship. It allows minorities of six communities, namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians, from India’s neighboring countries — Pakistan, Afghanistan, or Bangladesh — who entered India before 31 December 2014 to get citizenship more easily on the grounds of religious persecution.
The introduction of this bill led to mass protests from students, civil society, and the opposition parties as religion for the first time was made a test of Indian citizenship. The most notable was a 100-plus day protest in Shaheen Bagh, a working-class Muslim neighbourhood in the country’s capital, New Delhi with Muslim women at the forefront of this protest.
Four years after the CAA’s initial introduction and passing, the rules were brought into effect in March 2024.
India is not a secularism per se. In a secular society minorities are defined by Political affiliations; ie political majority and minority. In india minorities are based on religion. The writer also goes on to support minority reservation in jobs and education. This is so unsecular. How much can you contradict yourself in a single article. In a secular society reservation, if any, should be done on basis of economic status of a person. This might also be a reason why Ambedkar didn’t add secularism in our constitution. Because SC ST reservation was mandated for first 10 years. Ambedkar knew his law quite well.
Secularism with RSS led BJP Government? Are you out of your mind author? Or are you one of them?
2 words in Indian history after Independence were misused by the vest nterested and they are 1. Secularism and 2nd Gandhiji. Both are used by undeserving groups. This was time and again used for political mileage. Still these 2 words are misused by today’s Congress leaders who can not claim any legacy of Mshatma Gandhiji or genuine Secularism. You can now see how the so called Secularists are dividing the people of this country to get back the seats they lost in the elections. They emerged victorious in Kerala by uniting all the Muslim and Christian groups, but this strategy will make them sulking in the rest of the nation.
How secularism is connected to CAA is a millon dollar question? Opposition is crafty and mis informed the public.
When religious persecution takes place in neighbouring countries, asylum should be on religious grounds. Basic funda.
One wishes this were true ie some sort of a secular tide in sentiment being led by young Indians resulting in a cogent collective action movement. That would be interesting to see. Right now, however, citizen X wants to be treated in a special way by the State, but doesn’t want the State to know who citizen X is. Citizen X wants all the advantages of a digital world as long as they remain anonymous. Finally, give me an example of regions where minorities are majorities and there aren’t communal issues, or worse institutional protections of local majorities? Is this secularism? A pro-rata institutionalization of what makes Indians different to each other? If so, what kind of theory of mind should Indian citizens have for this to be a unifying glue that holds the nation together?
Urban protestors are complaining about imagined problems while ignoring real ones. This is fantasy, not secularism.
Indira Gandhi amended constitution with secular word as a part of vote bank politics and that is creating hurdles in country’s progress now
if you read the constitution, you will see that cutting out this one word will make not a jot of difference – secularism is at the very core of the constitution.
“secularism is at the very core of the constitution. ”
Only for Bengalis who ran away from east Pakistan after Noakhali riots. and Who did not have spine to stand up to Muslims.. Now refugees like you guys. want whole India to be spineless like you guys.