[Reader-list] 20 million to be made legal citizens

[Pawan Durani]

http://expressbuzz.com/opinion/op-ed/20-million-to-be-made-legal-citizens/176882.html

20 million to be made legal citizens

Arizona in the USA is in turmoil due to a piece of legislation passed
in the state about illegal immigrants mainly from Mexico and other
Latin countries. It says that the cops can ask for papers if they
suspect a person to be illegal and also the employers need to check
the legal status. The bleeding heart liberals and other assorted types
of leftists are up in arms. But the mainstream America wants to go
ahead and curb illegal immigration.
But India is different. It carries the Athithi Devo Bhava to the
extreme in terms of providing perfume to Kasab.
The facts first. Census is a statutory exercise conducted under the
provisions of the census Act, 1948 and rules made thereunder. The
National Population Register (NPR) is being created under the
provision of citizenship Acts and rules. It has been claimed by the
Government (home minister in Parliament) that the present census
collects information for the later preparation of National Population
Register (NPR). To be precise, there is only a Population register
under Citizenship rules (2003) and it also mentions about a National
Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC). The difference is obvious and
unfortunately mixed up by the government. The census information by
definition is confidential in terms of specifics and so there is no
way the information collected can be used to verify nationality later.
The citizenship rules direct that 'during the verification process
"particulars of such individuals whose citizenship is doubtful shall
be entered with appropriate remarks in the population register." The
current census enumerator is to fill the query number 11 about
nationality by asking the person enumerated. It specifically mentions
that "Please record the nationality of the respondent as declared by
him/her for each of the person enumerated. Do not get into any
argument with the respondent regarding this." [Para 5.21.1 of General
Instructions]. This is the Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD) smuggled
into the census structure to facilitate crores of illegal immigrants
to be converted into a votebank through citizenship. When the
citizenship rules ask for doubtful cases of citizenship to be
identified and recorded, the census manual to collect information
under the very citizenship rules says "do not doubt the respondent;
just record what he says". Incidentally, anyone who has entered India
six months prior to census (Kasab is eligible under this category!)
and if anyone intends to stay for six months after becomes "usual
resident" under the census rules, and they can declare them as Indian
citizens. Not only that, the government is planning to issue "National
Identity cards" to these people though the cards are meant only for
Indian citizens.
In a nutshell, India is going to make more than 20 million (estimated
by previous home ministers) illegal immigrants (mostly from
Bangladesh) as Indian citizens within a few months. By this subterfuge
India will be the only country in the world which not only welcomes
illegal immigrants but also confers citizenship and national identity
cards to them.
We have seen how the Election Commission has been made ineffective and
subservient to the government of the day. We have seen how CBI has
been misused to fulfill the whims and fancies of the government of the
day.
We have seen how the political parties are eager to get votes under
any circumstances and more eager to create vote banks.
We are now seeing the most important authority of our republic,
namely, the census commission used for political purposes to confer
citizenship on illegal immigrants in a most blatant show of misuse of
power.
We have the case of Subba from Assam who became a member of parliament
when he is not a citizen of India. We have porous borders and corrupt
officials. These two constitute a deadly combination for disaster. But
our government by a sleight of hand has decided to subvert the last
remaining independent authority, namely, the Census Commission by
combining the socalled National Population Register and census count,
and by introducing this dangerous clause on citizenship in an
innocuous way.
The end result will be millions of illegal immigrants will become
citizens of this country and millions more will be interested and
encouraged to enter India. Already a section of intelligentsia in
Bangladesh believes that India is "Lebensraum" _ adequate room for
life or development.
Already we find that large parts of West Bengal, Assam and Bihar and
parts of UP are populated by illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. The
correct procedure would be to identify them and deport them at best
and at worst give them work permits or guest worker status, and not
voting rights or citizenship rights.
But we are going to do something lower than the worst. Provide them
citizenship rights. It is high time that nationalist oriented Indians
protested this and forced the government to cancel the citizenship
tamasha and conduct only a census for now.
Since this will confer voting rights on millions and a huge
constituency for some political parties; they will welcome it. But
they should realise that the Frankenstein monster we are creating will
devour them sooner than later. Sooner than later there will be a
clamour for reservation in parliament to "atithi or guest citizens".
A cabinet with Kasab, Headley and Sivarasan will be the most tragic
part of the Indian republic.
But our media will still be debating whether sariclad Deepika Padukone
was more charming than the Aishwarya dressed in gown in Cannes, and
our political leaders will continue to look for avenues to make money
by corruption and try to find tax havens to store them.
vaidya at IIMB.ERNET.IN