By Verghese V Joseph –
Bengaluru: Submitting a memorandum on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to the Governor of Karnataka, Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, at Raj Bhavan in Bengaluru on Thursday, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore, Most Rev Dr Peter Machado said, “Religion should never be the criteria for citizenship of a country, nor violence a solution when there is a difference of opinion.” The Archbishop is also the president of All Karnataka United Christian Forum for Human Rights. Prominent religious heads of other Christian denominations were also present during the press conference.
While appealing to the citizens to maintain peace and harmony, and that they should not recourse to violent methods to fight for their cause, Dr Machado urged the Central Government to grant citizenship to illegal migrants not on the basis of their religion, but on the merit of each individual case.
The prelate urged the government to dialogue with those opposing the Act, and come to an agreement about the way forward with justice, equity and fairness. “There is no harm in backtracking: changing course if this is necessary for the good of the country and our people.”
“By doing so, it can meet out justice to all illegal migrants and thus promote equality among them. More so, it can also convince the citizens of the country that it upholds the sacredness of the Constitution and respects the rights of all the linguistic and religious minorities without any discrimination,” he added.
The Archbishop, through the memorandum, stressed the point that the Christian community will continue to work for the betterment of all citizens without any discrimination and will continue to build the nation based on equality, justice and fairness.
He also expressed solidarity with those who have been discriminated on the basis of religion, and assured them of his support and fellowship that justice may be granted to them and that all of us may live as one family as brothers and sisters in this great Mother land.
Urges for JNC Protection
Also, in light of the disturbance created by some self-styled leaders at the Jyothi Nivas College, Bengaluru by targetting students as they were coming out, Archbishop of Bangalore Dr Peter Machado has requested the Commissioner of Police, to provide adequate protection to these institutions from these unnecessary harassments. The students were harassed and unnecessary disturbance was created by this group whey they refused to sign papers endorsing the CAA.
“The Christian community in India, in particular in Karnataka, is of citizens who are peace-loving and law abiding. The community is always at the forefront in service of the Nation, be it education, social development, healthcare, etc. Hence, the contribution of Christians in nation-building process is incessant since its formation,” the Prelate added.
“These kinds of disturbances at institutions run by Christians all over the state does not augur well. The students and the staff are finding it unsafe to attend classes,” the Archbishop stated.
The Parliament has passed the Citizenship Amendment Act on December 12, 2019 that proposes to accord citizenship to illegal Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jains, Parsi and Christian migrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It, naturally, implies that migrants, who identify themselves with any group or community other than those mentioned above, from these countries won’t be eligible for citizenship.
The bill also relaxes the provisions for “Citizenship by naturalisation”. The proposed law reduces the duration of residency from existing 11 years to just five years for people belonging to the same six religious and three countries. This Citizenship Amendment Bill has caused misunderstanding among the people and led to lots of violence and uproar in Assam and now slowly spreading to other parts of the country as well.
Reiterating the views expressed by Hi Eminence Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Metropolitan Archbishop of Bombay and President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) on December 27, 2019 regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act that there is a danger of that there could be polarization of our people among religious lines, which is very harmful for the country, religion should never be the criteria for citizenship of a country, nor violence a solution when there is a difference of opinion.
Protests have swept across the country, especially college campuses, against the Citizenship Act. The government says the citizenship law will help non-Muslim minorities from three Muslim-dominated countries – Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh – to become Indian citizens easily if they fled to India before 2015 because of religious persecution. But critics fear the CAA discriminates against Muslims and violates the secular principles of the constitution.
Over 60 petitions on the law – mostly challenging its validity – have been filed in the Supreme Court.
On Thursday, refusing an urgent hearing on a petition to declare the citizenship law “constitutional”, the Supreme Court Chief Justice S A Bobde, said the “country is going through critical times” and such petitions “don’t help”. The Supreme Court said it would hear the petition only after violence stopped.