Leaders of the BJP, led by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Mr. Amit Shah, are continuing their effort to lead people astray by misrepresenting historical facts. The latest manifestation of this campaign was seen in the Lok Sabha yesterday, when Mr. Modi dragged in the name of former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in a bid to justify the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA). I would like to clarify a couple of things in this connection.

Mr. Modi has referred to the agreement for safety of minorities and protection of their rights in both countries, which was signed in 1950 between Pandit Nehru and the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, and raised a question as to why the former Prime Minister of India had used the term ‘religious minorities’ in the pact. The answer is very simple. Barely three years had elapsed then since Partition of the country, and antagonism and violence along religious lines prevailed both in India and undivided Pakistan. It was precisely for the reason of ensuring safety of common people in either country that both Prime Ministers felt the need for the pact in question. Anyone who has even minimal knowledge of undivided Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh knows that the concept of ‘linguistic minority’ is not relevant when it comes to these countries. For instance, in the western part of Pakistan Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs etc. spoke then, and still speak today, chiefly in Punjabi. The conflict between these communities was based on religion, and not language. Similarly, Hindus and Muslims in erstwhile East Pakistan and present-day Bangladesh shared/share the same mother tongue, i.e. Bengali. Consequently, it is irrelevant to use terms like ‘linguistic minority’ in the context of these countries.

Mr. Modi has referred to a letter written by Pandit Nehru to the then Chief Minister of Assam, Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi, as also certain comments made by Pandit Nehru in Parliament in 1950, and asserted that the former Prime Minister was in favour of granting Indian citizenship to refugees from undivided Pakistan. It is true that being the great humanitarian that he was, Pandit Nehru spearheaded the Displaced Persons (Compensation and Rehabilitation) Rules, 1955 and created a category of East Pakistan Displaced Persons and re-settled them in what is now known as the C.R. Park area of New Delhi. On top of that, a ‘Dandakaranya Project’ was launched to rehabilitate them in undivided Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, undivided Andhra Pradesh and the Andaman islands. However, this project was not successful mainly because the refugees were reluctant to leave states like West Bengal and Tripura, where they found linguistic affinity.

It is to be noted that the policy of rehabilitating religious minorities in India was pursued by Pandit Nehru with reference to the situation created during Partition of the country and its immediate aftermath. This was not a perpetual policy. That is why Article 9 of the Constitution specifies that any person who willing acquires the citizenship of any other country, be it through the process of naturalization or registration, will no longer be considered as an Indian citizen. Now, solely in the interest of vote-bank politics the Modi government is inviting people to India who have willingly remained citizens of these neighbouring countries for over 70 years since Independence and Partition.

Pandit Nehru and other leaders had adopted a short-term policy regarding refugees in view of the unique situation created by Partition. However, the situation in Pakistan or Bangladesh is not such today that hordes of religious minorities are fleeing en masse to India as refugees after facing atrocities. Therefore, we can never accept Mr. Modi’s attempt to use Pandit Nehru as a stalking horse to indulge in vote-bank politics by means of the un-Constitutional CAA, which is against the letter and spirit of the Assam Accord as well.