N.D. Pancholi
In defending the Citizens Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA), the ruling party’s main argument is that the amendment does not deprive Indian citizens of any of their rights. The government argues that it confers rights on members of the persecuted minorities belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Parsi and Jain religions (except Muslims) who have migrated from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan till 2014 and have been residing in India for more than six years. Speaking on the floor of the Lok Sabha on 6 February 2020, Prime Minister Modi during his thanksgiving speech to the Presidential address said that CAA was not going to impact any Indian citizen, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian or of any other community. This argument is totally undemocratic and opposed to basic human values. In essence the argument appeals to the ignoble selfish instincts of an individual which advises him to be concerned with his own self interest irrespective of what is happening to other fellow human beings. This kind of approach is detrimental to the values of a civilized society. The basic premise of human progress is cooperation and fraternity among fellow human beings. In this context the following excerpts from the famous speech made by Charlie Chaplin in his movie ‘The Great Dictator’ are significant:
“I should like to help everyone—if possible—Jew, Gentile – black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone….”
These are the values of human civilisation. Our national ethos are on the same lines. Our saints and preachers from ancient times to modern era like Lord Buddha, Mahavira, Guru Nanak, Kabir, Mahatma Phule, Swami Vivekanand and Gandhi have always taught us to inculcate the values of love and compassion to all without any discrimination. CAA is opposed to all what these great preachers have taught us. It is ironical that our government has enacted such a degrading law at a time when we are celebrating 550th and 150th birth anniversaries of Guru Nanak and Mahatma Gandhi respectively. This Act is also in total contravention of articles 14 and 21 of our Constitution. Article 14 states that “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.” Similarly Article 21 gives protection to the life and liberty of every person in accordance with procedure established by law. That procedure has to be fair and non-discriminatory.
How Hindus will feel if any foreign government, say USA or UK, passes any law to the effect that persons belonging to only Muslim, Sikh, Jain and Christian religion from India will be provided citizenship in its country, while excluding Hindus by necessary implication? Freedom, equality and fraternity are three fundamental democratic values which have evolved after a long arduous struggle of humanity. Fraternity is one of the most important values which emphasize the cooperative and compassionate nature of human beings. Gandhi had this favorite song ‘Vaishnav Jan To Tene Kahiye, Jo Peer Parayee Jano re’, that is, an ideal human being is he who feels another’s suffering. Such democratic and human values are not restrictive to any national, regional or religious boundary. Therefore it does not behove any democratic government to tell its citizens to weigh the relevance or justifiability of a law on the anvil of their personal self interest irrespective of its consequences to fellow human beings or its detriment to human values on the ground that deprived fellows do not belong to their religion. Human society is not human if it is based on values which border on selfishness. Thus CAA is a flagrant violation of all which is human, democratic, constitutional and civilised. It must be opposed at all costs.
(N.D. Pancholi is a Supreme Court advocate and human rights activist.)
