Shiban Khaibri
“And thus I clothe my naked villainy,
With odd old ends stol’n out of holy writ;
And seem a saint , when most I play the devil..” (Shakespeare)
Had there been nothing like what we call as unfinished agenda of partition or its incomplete , vague and one sided implementation in 1947 and thereafter, the heart rending plight of Pakistani Hindus would have not been not only so much horrible but also , as a natural corollary, greater possibilities would have been there in pre-empting any process of leaving them in the lurch . That resulted, over all these years, in a systematic decimation of Hindus in a country which belonged to them for thousands of years . As indigenous original inhabitants , they were treated as ”persona non grata” right from August 14, 1947 simply for the reason of pursuing a particular faith . Why not, the factor of faith assumed so much of sensitivity at the hands of the Muslim League led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah that the option of “divided India or destroyed India” was put by him before somewhat reluctant Congress leadership headed by Gandhi Ji and Mr. Nehru for partitioning this country.
It is well known that Gandhi Ji had not quite freely given his acquiesce to the partition and had gone as far as saying, ” If the Congress wishes to accept partition , it would be over my dead body , so long as I am alive , I will never accept partition”. Did Mr. Jinnah respond positively to Gandhi Ji and have any respect for his intrinsic wish getting fulfilled by withdrawing the demand for a separate nation for Muslims. No, the question , therefore, is as to why the Congress leadership succumbed to the pressure tactics of Jinnah. Why gory incidents like Navakhali deaths, destruction, arson, rapes and conversions etc, as a prelude to the partition, took place is not that important to delve upon at the moment though history must, in the very near future be prepared to get into the process of being rewritten correctly, impartially and sans any distortions and manipulations , as it is how to resolutely convince and remove all manufactured doubts from the minds of those political leaders of the country who are opposing the Citizenship ( Amendment) Act (CAA) knowingly only for petty political reasons just to protecting their vote Banks . It is a matter to be rued that such leaders are appearing to be bereft of even basic tenets of humanity and thus are creating unwarranted atmosphere through perverted rhetoric with prospects of stalling efforts to providing some succour to the persecuted ones who have entered Bharat as victimized refugees on or before December 31, 2014 from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh. That is quite unfortunate.
The question remains as to how we address those issues which have sprouted over the years on account of one sided and faulty implementation of the process of partition from this side and also on account of aggressive sense of exclusionary nationalism in Pakistan. Over all these years, barring inking an agreement in April 1950 between the two Prime Ministers , Liyaqat Ali Khan and Mr. Nehru, which was treated with a lackadaisical follow up approach again from this side with perilous effects to Hindus and Sikhs living in Pakistan, nothing tangible was done. Under the agreement, Minority Commission was established in India followed by a full fledged Minority Affairs Ministry as well, to ensure legal, constitutional and administrative support , facilities and protection to the concerned but in Pakistan it was and continues to be a zilch resulting in Hindus being subjected to coercion, persecution and sheer neglect including forcibly converting , chasing and hounding them out. Hindus have no access to education, social welfare development, state employment, various government schemes and the list is long. The plight of even their teen aged girls is heart rending.
However, over a few years, the present government including the Congress led Government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh at least wanted to do away with ambiguities and uncertainties in respect of what to do with those Hindus , Sikhs etc from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh who took shelter in this country to save their life and honour. In Congress Government, a need was felt to address the issue and even the minorities persecuted were identified. If the present leadership of that party chooses to oppose the CAA now and remain silent over the issue to keep its alliance partners ”happy”, it is again unfortunate. Such a stand, perhaps, was not going to pay any dividends to either the Congress or their alliance partners in the ensuing elections.
It cannot be denied that while Gandhi Ji was increasingly particular and very much alive to the prospects of building an image of an apostle of peace and “tyag” , at the same time , Mr. Nehru too was in great measure concerned about building an image with highly secular credentials to be reckoned as a leader internationally with a ”very progressive and broad minded ” approach. However, all such political luxuries are not possible unless price was paid for it in one or the other form. In other words, a total silence and an indifferent approach to the suffering minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan , Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan) by the Indian leadership over decades resulted in these minorities virtually getting wiped out in Afghanistan and from a 22.7 % of population as in 1971 of Hindus in Bangladesh ,they are reduced to just less than 8% now and in Pakistan from 20.5% in 1948, they are finished to less than 1.6% as per the available data .Those very much secular political leaders of this country who , last year were seen quite restless , on pins and much concerned about not only Palestine but even Hamas following the Israeli action against unprovoked attack on it , will never feel concerned about how population of Hindus stunningly fell so much in the three neighbouring Islamic countries, where did they disappear — “Dharti niggal gaye ya aasmaan kha gaya ” — eaten by earth or swallowed by sky?
Why should the CAA be so much opposed and opposed just on ridiculous and silly basis simply because there seems a concerted move to have such religious minorities , Hindus and other non- Muslims in the three countries continue to get exterminated in such a way that there remains not a sign , not a symbol , not a mark and not any evidence of them – by forcible conversions and other means. When virtually declared non- citizens and not entitled to live a normal life resulting in their fleeing to save their life and honour, which country other than India shall they be allowed to enter and allowed even to live temporarily and not even like Myanmar Rohingya illegal immigrants enjoying legal, administrative , moral and financial support in this country. Kejriwal Ji and Mamta Bannerji from among the ”most secular ” front must answer this question. It is shocking while it is unwarranted as also totally unacceptable that Kejriwal Ji and his Party must take such an illogical and totally antagonistic stand on the question of granting of citizenship rights to just 31000 Hindus and other non Muslim refugees having been compelled to flee or hounded out from their birth places and having entered India more than a decade back . Rubbing salt on their wounds by predicting in them after getting citizenship , as turning out to be criminals, rioters, rapists and usurpers, Kejriwal Ji has shown his hatred for them by openly saying CAA was “dangerous for the country”. He unfortunately , did the same with “Kashmir Files” which was to some extent showing the plight and exodus of Kashmiri Hindus . He never predicted or feared any criminal activities by Rohingyas in any part of this country .
Mamta Ji has gone many steps further by planting fear in Muslims that the said Act was “eliminating Muslims as if they have never contributed to this nation” . More “secular” leaders have opposed the Citizenship Amendment Act on the ground of being discriminatory in not including Muslims too in the list of the eligible ones. Such a contention is, ab-initio sans any sense or any substance or any logic and therefore, never on any basis.
How can Muslims be persecuted in their own Muslim countries to claim citizenship rights in India and not in any other country? Why and what for was Pakistan created at all ? In short, such a misinformation and illogical narrative coupled with irrational stand not only appear but are solely aimed at appeasement and further consolidation of their vote Banks. Taking refuge and cover of “constitution and democracy in danger” every now and then , has otherwise made such a narrative redundant and totally mischievous , more so when it is the humanitarian issue of abused and tormented Hindus of the three concerned countries.
Equally the rhetoric of Kejriwal Ji that ” the Government is encouraging and alluring three crore minorities living in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan together, if they come to the country, where will the Government settle them” is as vague as it is illogical. He, till date, has never felt the need to speak in respect of deportation of millions of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants and now thousands of Rohingyas living in the country but is raising questions about just 31000 souls who cannot go to any other country except India . This country and its people have civilization (al) legacy of providing shelter to whosoever sought it, how can the traumatised, depraved and oppressed progenies of those, now be turned out and refused entry? Some opposition led states claiming that they would never implement CAA is as irrelevant as it is in- fructuous since it is the Central Government that grants citizenship rights.
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