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Conspiracy theorist Rana Ayyub thinks tax defaulters’ property being seized by UP govt is ‘fresh hell’

OpIndia Staff
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Conspiracy theorist Rana Ayyub thinks tax defaulters’ property being seized by UP govt is ‘fresh hell’

Amidst motivated protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, controversial ‘journalist’ Rana Ayyub seems to be working overtime to add fuel to the fire by deliberately stoking fear amongst the Muslim community and painting the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh as an anti-Muslim regime. Ayyub had yesterday posted a tweet of a government order alleging that Yogi Adityanath is now confiscating the property of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh.


Ayyub had gone berserk after the UP police took corrective action against the rioting mobs during the anti-CAA protests held in several cities and towns of Uttar Pradesh. In order to gain sympathy for the rioters in UP, Rana doubled-down on floating unverifiable stories of police oppression which were promptly busted by the UP police. To this end, Rana posted the above tweet asserting that the UP government is patently anti-Muslim and it has now resorted to impounding properties of Muslims in UP.

Read: Rana Ayyub sensationalises Muzaffarnagar anti-CAA riots, alleges RSS members of attacking Muslims, UP Police calls her bluff

In this instance, the government order that Rana Ayyub has quoted claiming the Yogi government is confiscating the properties of ‘Muslims’, insinuating that the government action is driven by the concerned person’s religion, is in fact not related to the riots at all.

The order which she shared on Twitter pertains to a defaulter who failed to pay land revenue(Bhu-Rajasva) to the Uttar Pradesh government and happened to be a Muslim. However, the man’s Muslim identity was enough for Rana Ayyub to give it a communal spin and allege that the UP government has unleashed their vindictive streak against Muslims amidst widespread protests by them in opposition to the CAA.

According to the government order shared by Ayyub, the man in question has defaulted on tax amount of more than 7 lakhs. Since he had not paid the required amount, the government had passed an order to confiscate his property. But, Ayyub, fully convinced of the blind support she enjoys from the anti-India lobby and her gullible followers, proceeded to discredit the UP chief minister while simultaneously portraying a Muslim offender as an innocent victim of Yogi’s anti-Muslim prejudice.

The Yogi government had announced that as per law, the rioters who damage public properties will be identified and the damages will be recovered. Acting on its announcement, the government has also started the damages recovery process. But the order that Ayyub shared was regarding a tax defaulter, not riot damages.

Ayyub is a repeat offender when it comes to sharing fake news and making tall claims out of thin air. Riding on sheer Modi-hatred that gets her space in the leftist media, she has been found sharing fake news multiple times.

Jharkhand Results: 21 seats with parties leading with less than 2500 votes, BJP leading in 7, trailing in 10

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand Results: 21 seats with parties leading with less than 2500 votes, BJP leading in 7, trailing in 10

The counting of votes in the Jharkhand Assembly Elections are currently underway. The elections are being contested extremely hard and the face of results is changing after every round of counting. Only a short time ago, there were 27 seats where the margin between the leading candidate and his or her closest rival is less than 2000 votes. Of these 27 seats, the BJP was leading in 8 and trailing in 13.

Leads and trails under 2000 votes

In seats like Baghmara, Bishrampur, Jamshedpur East and Jharia, the BJP had won comfortably last time around with the margin of victory as huge as nearly 70,000 in Jamshedpur East and well over 33,000 in Jharia. In Baghmara s well, the margin of victory for the BJP was nearly 30,000 and in Bishrampur, it was nearly 14,000. In seats like Gandey and Giridih, the BJP’s margin of victory was around the 10,000 mark.

Interestingly enough, in Silli, where the JMM had won the last time around with a margin of victory of almost 30,000 votes, it was trailing there against the AJSU. Similarly, in Gomia, where the JMM had won comfortably the last time around with a margin exceeding 37,000 votes, it was struggling to hold on to that seat although it is leading there currently.

Read: Jharkhand Results: Congress, JMM alliance trailing in 4 seats out of 6 where Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi campaigned

Panki is the only seat among these where the incumbent was a Congress candidate and there, the BJP was leading. There were 5 seats among these where the JVM had won the last time but among these 5, the JVM was leading only in one at the moment and that is Simaria.

Now, there are 21 such seats where the margin is less than 2500 votes. The BJP is trailing in 10 of those and leading in 7. The seats marked purple are those where the margin is less than 1500 votes.

Leads and trails under 2500 votes

The leads are likely to change again after the next round of counting. As per the latest ECI trends, the BJP is leading in 31 seats while the alliance is at 40, just one short of a majority. Thus, while the alliance is much better placed, the election is far from over. It will go right down to the wire.

Update

Most of the seats with close margins mentioned in this report went to the JMM+ alliance. Apart from Bishrampur, Chattarpur, Dhanbad, Kodarma, Mandu, Sarath and Simaria, the BJP failed to win any of the seats as mentioned in the last trends. Only in Sarath was the party leading. In the other six, it came from behind to win rather comfortably in most of them. In seats like Dumri and Gandey, it surrendered leads. In the end, the BJP was restricted to only 25 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly.

The Citizenship Amendment Act is constitutional: Here is how the anti-CAA propaganda has no legal basis

Guest Author
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The Citizenship Amendment Act is constitutional: Here is how the anti-CAA propaganda has no legal basis

Can anyone Justify the Massive violence and vandalism of public property in the name of protests against Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA)? The answer is Certainly Not. In any country where there is a rule of law, no citizen has the right to take law in their hands and to create mischief to the public property. On the basis of false Propaganda spread through Social Media platforms against CAA 2019, parties with some vested interest are trying to create unrest in the country through the unlawful assembly of people who are knowingly involved in inciting violence in various parts of the Country. The question arises whether such act to enter into confrontation with police, agencies of the government and such assembly of protestors to damage public property in several parts of the country is a justified Act? No court in the country will justify such violent protests. Even the Chief Justice of India while hearing the petitions on CAA criticised the violence and public mischief.

Legal position related to damage to Public Property

Part-IVA of the Constitution of India, Under Article 51A (i) says it shall be the fundamental duty of every citizen of India to safeguard public property and to abjure violence. But who cares for their duties in this Country? They know to create vandalism in the name of democracy, protest, free speech, liberty etc. However, people must remember that rights are corresponded by duties.

Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984 was enacted with a view to curb acts of vandalism and damage to public property, including destruction and damage caused during riots and public commotion. It is high time to invoke provision of this law wide across this country and if needed also to promulgate Ordinance to increase punishment for all those miscreants involved in creating mischief under Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.

Read: How to debate Citizenship Amendment Act with ‘liberal’ idiots

Public Mischief

The section-505 of the Indian Penal Code,1860 says statements conducing to public mischief are punishable under the act. It says whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement, rumour or report with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquillity, will amount to Public Mischief. And, sadly many people are spreading rumour about NRC and CAA that these are Anti-Muslim.

Let’s understand the Citizenship Amendment Act

This Amendment adds proviso in section 2, in sub-section (1), in clause (b) in the Citizenship Act, 1955.

And the Proviso reads as “Provided that any person belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian community from Afghanistan, Bangladesh or Pakistan, who entered into India on or before the 31st day of December, 2014 and who has been exempted by the Central Government by or under clause (c) of sub-section (2) of section 3 of the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or any rule or order made thereunder, shall not be treated as illegal migrant for the purposes of this Act.”

Further, new section 6B added in the Citizenship Act, 1955 which states that on and from the date of commencement of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, any proceeding pending against a person under this section in respect of illegal migration or citizenship shall stand abated on conferment of citizenship to him, provided that such person shall not be disqualified for making application for citizenship under this section on the ground that the proceeding is pending against him and the Central Government or authority specified by it in this behalf shall not reject his application on that ground if he is otherwise found qualified for grant of citizenship under this section.

Further, it adds in the proviso that who makes the application for citizenship under this section shall not be deprived of his rights and privileges to which he was entitled on the date of receipt of his application on the ground of making such application.

The section 6B (4) adds that nothing in this section shall apply to the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram or Tripura as included in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution and the area covered under “The Inner Line” notified under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1873.

Read: Here is why the challenges to Citizenship Amendment Act will likely get laughed out of the Supreme Court

The object sought by this Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 is to provide a remedy to the minorities who are victims of religious persecution aftermath of Partition of India as the new nation Pakistan declared itself an Islamic state. And further, this Act aims to provide exemption under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920 or from the application of the provisions of the Foreigners Act, 1946 or inclusion in the Citizenship Act, 1955 those religious minorities who came before 31st December 2014 from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. This Act does not include Muslims as Muslims are not persecuted minorities in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. This Act recognizes the right of Non-Muslims who came to India due to religious persecution from these three Muslim majority nations.

Indian Constitution and Citizenship

Now, understand the provision of law with regard to citizenship in the Constitution of India. Part two and Article-5 to 11 of the Constitution of India deals with Citizenship. Article 5 gives Citizenship at the Commencement of Constitution for those who had his domicile in the territory of India. Article 6 gives rights of citizenship of certain persons who have migrated to India from Pakistan before the 19th day of July 1948.

Then, a valid question arises what about the victim of partition who chose to stay in Pakistan when Pakistan became an Islamic state and religious persecution started on the minorities. When the situation became unbearable for those minorities in Pakistan they started migrating to India as this country was their last hope as they all were citizens of undivided India. So, what about the citizenship of those people who came to India in 1950 from Pakistan or say in 1971 from Bangladesh as a victim of religious persecution to Minorities?

Article-11 says Parliament can regulate the right of citizenship by law but Indian government took so many years to pass this legislation for granting the citizenship and finally it is being done through Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019. So, citizenship is not the subject of Part-III of the Constitution, rather it is subject to Part-II and Parliament have the power to regulate the Citizenship laws, therefore it is just and reasonable.

In addition to Article-246, Union List under 7th Schedule, Entry-17 gives exclusive rights to the union government for law-making power regarding Citizenship.

As far as Article-14 is concerned it talks about equality before law and equal protection of the laws. And three tests laid down under Article-14 are not violated by this Act. As the objective of CAA is to protect against religious persecution of minorities. Hence the reasonable classification is done on the basis of intelligible differentia is just and reasonable.

National Register of Citizen would be a separate exercise and we can’t say how it will be implemented as it is the question of future and state policy not of law in the present scenario. And CAA has nothing to do with NRC as the objective of both the laws are different. NRC’s Assam model will not be applied throughout India because Assam Accord, 1985 laid down certain binding obligations on the centre. However, that would not be a precedent for all India NRC. So, no need to worry for Muslims and we must avoid from falling the victim of any conspiracy or propaganda. Therefore, the need of the hour is to know the truth of CAA which is hard, while the propaganda of NRC is cheap.

 

Author: Abhinav Kumar
Advocate, Supreme Court of India

Uttar Pradesh Police schools US-based anti-India propagandist on the reality of ‘peacefully protesting’ citizens

OpIndia Staff
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Uttar Pradesh Police schools US-based anti-India propagandist on the reality of ‘peacefully protesting’ citizens

Uttar Pradesh Police today took to Twitter to debunk propaganda of ‘police brutality’ on ‘peacefully protesting’ citizens and ‘targeting of Muslims’. Indian ‘secular-liberals’ did their bit to fear-monger about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and creating an air that the Muslims of India are going to be rendered stateless on implementation of CAA, while the CAA does not affect Indian citizens, Muslims or otherwise in any way. Now, taking the propaganda internationally, habitual fake-news peddler and anti-Hindu bigot C J Werleman took to Twitter to claim that Indian security forces were brutally assaulting those who were ‘peacefully protesting’ against the ‘anti-Muslim’ CAA.


Despite multiple clarifications that CAA does not even affect the Indians citizens, including Muslims, Werleman decides to peddle the fake narrative. He also accused the Uttar Pradesh police of using brutality against those ‘peacefully protesting’ against the government.

Read: Shekhar Gupta’s ThePrint eulogises a serial fake news peddler and habitual anti-India, anti-Hindu bigot

Not taking the baseless allegations lying down, Uttar Pradesh Police called his bluff and informed him that the so-called peaceful protestors used arms against the police and over 250 policemen are injured.


“More than 250 police persons have been injured- 62 with gunshot injuries. Live and fired cartridges of non-prohibited bore (not used by the police) in excess of 700 have been recovered from ‘peacefully protesting’ citizens,” UP Police tweeted. This statement by UP Police comes a day after they schooled conspiracy theorist Rana Ayyub over Muzaffarnagar violence. Ayyub, too, had accused the police of being anti-Muslim and alleged that they police along with RSS leaders were ‘attacking’ Muslim localities. Asking her to act responsibly, UP Police had asked her to share verifiable evidence of what she was claiming so that the police could look into the matter.

After large scale rioting and arson took place in several places in UP in the name of anti-CAA protests, section 144 of the CRPC has been extended in the state till 31st January. Section 144 was enforced in the state on Wednesday night.

Read: Here is how PTI lied about Yogi Adityanath’s stern message to anti-CAA rioters who went on rampage in Uttar Pradesh

According to reports, eleven persons have died and many others got injured as the protests against the CAA turned violent in Uttar Pradesh last week. UP’s Additional DGP PV Ramashastry also said that deaths were not caused by police action as the police have not fired a single bullet. Violence has taken place in places like Meerut, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, Firozabad, Sambhal and Kanpur etc. Along with section 144, internet connection is also snapped in 21 districts in the state.

UP police have informed that 218 persons have been arrested and 3305 detained for defying prohibitory orders. Protesters in the state vandalised of torched several police vehicles in Amroha, Bijnor, Muzaffarnagar, BulandShahr and Hapur, and police were unable to stop them even after using teargas shells and batons. Rioters resorted to stone-pelting and other violent activities during the anti-CAA protests. In several cities, self-imposed curfew was seen as shopkeepers kept their shutters down in fear of vandalism.

Rajasthan girls climb a water tank to protest against Gehlot govt, climb down after 2 days on CM’s request

OpIndia Staff
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Rajasthan girls climb a water tank to protest against Gehlot govt, climb down after 2 days on CM’s request

In a unique way to protest against the state government’s decision not to extend the exam dates for the posts of school teachers. As per reports, 5 girls in Jaipur had climbed to the top of a water tank in Jagatpura area to lodge a protest against the state government’s decision.

Hundreds of students and aspirants had reportedly gathered in Jagatpura area to demand that the state government extends the scheduled date of January 3 for the recruitment of school lecturers’ posts. On the afternoon of Saturday, 21 December, 5 girls had climbed on a 50 meters high water tank. As per reports, the girls had taken inflammable substances along with them, threatening self-immolation.

The girls had issued a video message addressed to the Gehlot government from the top of the tank demanding the extension of the examination dates.

As per reports, other exam aspirants seeking an extension of the dates had also gathered below the tank and were not allowing the police or administration to approach the girls.

The aspirants’ protests against the government had started in November when they presented 5 demands, including reduction of quota for other states’ aspirants and extending the exam date to June.

The girls, determined to continue their protest, spent the Saturday night, and Sunday on top of the tank. The 5 girls were reportedly sent food, blankets and water via ropes by the crowd present below. As per reports, as the girls continued their protest, the other aspirants waited on the ground to support them.

In their video message, the girls were seen saying, “Gehlot Sahab, the girls from your Beti Bachao movement have now climbed the water tank and if our demands are not fulfilled, we will jump or will immolate ourselves. We are against the bribery and seat-selling in this exam done by Dotasara. Wake up, or you will collect our corpses.”

As per reports, the protestors were gathered after education minister Govind Singh Dotasara refused to extend the exam date to June.

On Sunday night, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot had shared a tweet expressing concerns for the health and safety of the girls.


He also added that the government is open for discussion. He stated that for the concerned exam, the government has already extended dates twice. Gehlot assured that his government will open up more opportunities for job aspirants in future.

After the CM’s assurance, the 5 girls reportedly climbed down from the tank at 11 pm on Sunday night.

Jharkhand Results: Congress, JMM alliance wins 4 seats out of 6 where Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi campaigned

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand Results: Congress, JMM alliance wins 4 seats out of 6 where Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi campaigned

The counting of votes in the Jharkhand Assembly Elections is currently underway. In Jharkhand, the alliance of JMM, Congress and the RJD is currently above the half-way mark. The BJP, as the single largest party, is at 27. It’s a good time to visit, perhaps, the constituencies at which the scions of the Nehru-Gandhi Parivar held rallies.

Rahul Gandhi addressed five rallies in the state as part of the Congress’ campaign. He addressed rallies at Simdega, Barkagaon, Ranchi, Rajmahal and Mahagama Vidhan Sabha Constituencies. In contrast, Priyanka Gandhi addressed just one rally at Pakur constituency.

Mahagama

Mahagama is considered a BJP bastion. Congress candidate Deepika Pandey Singh was trailing from Mahagama Constituency during the early trends. However, now, Singh has won this seat.

Simdega

At Simdega, Shradhanand Besra of BJP was leading against Congress’s Bhushan Bara as per the early ECI trends. However, now Congress has won this seat.

Barkagaon

Congress has won comfortably in Barkagaon.

Ranchi

At Ranchi, it’s the BJP candidate Chandreshwar Prasad Singh who has won.

Rajmahal

The BJP has won Rajmahal, a seat it had won in 2014.

Pakur

In Pakur, BJP’s Veni Prasad Gupta lost to the Congress party’s Alamgir Alam.

The the results are

Congress, JMM alliance has won in 4 seats out of 6 seats where Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra campaigned.

Note: The article has been updated with the latest trends.

Indian Muslims do not stand to suffer due to the CAA-NRC combo: Here are the laws and guidelines explained

Kartikeya Tanna
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Indian Muslims do not stand to suffer due to the CAA-NRC combo: Here are the laws and guidelines explained

There has been a lot of debates, claims, counter-claims and misinformation being circulated over the CAA and the NRC. Looking at the ground reports of the protests it is evident that a lot of misinformation ie being spread among the people to create unrest. This article is an attempt to simplify the CAA and the NRC for easy understanding.

The most recent criticism in regard to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) enacted by both Houses of Parliament is that it isn’t the CAA that is the problem. It is its combination with the National Register of Citizens (NRC) which presents an evil where Muslims will suffer.

Numerous articles and social media posts by citizenry has put forth an illustration of how this combined effect creates an evil outcome. This article will dissect that illustration. Unlike most analyses which contain bland assertions without any links to relevant documents, this article contains links for the reader’s independent review.

Lastly, this analysis will also offer suggestions to the Modi government to make this process robust.

The CAA Pool

It is critical to mention that, before this dissection, the CAA must be fully understood in regard to what it does and doesn’t do given the extent of rumours and misrepresentations floating around.

[The law can be read here whereas the author has extensively elaborated upon the CAA and its contours in previous articles – click here and here.

At the cost of repetition, it is useful to outline two vital aspects of the CAA.

1.  Members of six religions, that is Christians, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains, Sikhs and Hindus fleeing three countries, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh can apply for Indian citizenship if they can demonstrate a physical presence in India of five years as opposed to the regular eleven years mentioned in the Citizenship Act, 1955. The offence of illegal migration into India is pardoned.

2.  They can only get this benefit if they entered India on or before December 31, 2014.

For the sake of brevity, we will collectively call these beneficiaries members of ‘CAA Pool’.

Illustration deployed by critics

The illustration deployed by critics, quite simply, is this:

If the NRC is implemented inefficiently and results in a situation where two Indian citizens – a Hindu and a Muslim – are determined as ‘non-Indians’ due to lack of documentation (we’ll call it the ‘NRC Net’), the Hindu could still save himself from harassment by entering the CAA Pool. The Muslim will suffer. He would likely be sent to a detention centre and would have to appear before tribunals to prove his Indian nationality.

Analysis

(i) Nationwide NRC not yet announced

At the outset, it is useful to mention the obvious. No nationwide NRC has been announced yet and, hence, any comparison with the requirements/criteria of Assam NRC is plainly misguided. Assam NRC is an exercise guided by an entirely different set of circumstances. In fact, Amit Shah himself suggested that the Assam NRC has demonstrated shortcomings which will guide the Modi government in formulating the nationwide NRC procedure.

(ii) Chronology

As clearly evidenced in the statements of Home Minister Amit Shah and others in the BJP, CAA has already been enacted as a law by both Houses of Parliament whereas NRC system hasn’t even been announced, let alone its criteria determined. CAA will, therefore, be rolled out first followed by a nationwide NRC.

Another vital aspect is that all beneficiaries under CAA – the entire CAA Pool – will be eligible to apply for Indian citizenship in less than 10 days, i.e., when they reach the five-year residency period on 31.12.2019. Indeed, it is possible that not everyone would apply right away. But, at the very least, it cannot be argued that the CAA Pool will continue to expand after 31.12.2019 with more beneficiaries becoming eligible in the next few years even after the NRC is rolled out.

Advice: Modi government should ideally announce a deadline well before the intended roll-out of the NRC and widely publicize it so that everyone in the CAA Pool applies for Indian citizenship before that deadline. That way, the operations of NRC will commence only after benefits under CAA have been applied for by whosoever is eligible.

(iii) Credibility of claim

If and when the NRC is rolled out, for an Indian Hindu in the NRC Net to subsequently claim he is a member of the CAA Pool will, rather obviously, lack credibility. This is because, in the NRC process, he would have claimed (whether in a form or verbally to the authority conducting the NRC) that he is an Indian citizen. His claim to be in the CAA Pool after an unsuccessful claim to the NRC authorities that he is an Indian citizen would be met with serious suspicion given it would be an obvious afterthought.

(iv) Penalty for misrepresentation

In the remote possibility that the Hindu in the NRC Net manages to hoodwink everyone to obtain Indian citizenship through the CAA route, Section 10 of the Citizenship Act, 1955 authorizes the government to revoke his citizenship on grounds of false representation when found.

(v) Current benefits to CAB Pool – a useful guide for Citizenship (Amendment) Rules 2019?

Since December 2014, the Modi government has issued long-term visas to Pakistani nationals belonging to minority communities, among others, who are “seeking a permanent settlement in India with a view to becoming citizens of India”. In fact, Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan who entered India on pilgrim visas and did not go back due to religious persecution were granted long-term visas as per a 2012 policy of the UPA government. The policy document, available on the MHA website, can be accessed here. Over the five- year duration of the Modi government, it went on increasing the long-term visa pool including Bangladesh and Afghanistan nationals.

In February 2018, it published a document (available on the MHA website) on the grant of long-term visas with five-year duration to all members who are today in the CAB Pool. The government also permitted them to open bank accounts, carry out self-employment, obtain a driving license, PAN card and Aadhar number.

Therefore, many in today’s CAB Pool are already holders of long-term visas with basic identity documents or are in the process of obtaining one.

Those CAB Pool members who entered India on/before 31.12.2014 without a valid passport/travel document (or who now hold an expired passport/travel document) were asked to apply for long-term visas. See this screenshot:

Direction to apply for long term visas

page3image24248944

Importantly, illegal immigrants belonging to what is today the CAB Pool needed to provide documents to prove their eligibility for a long-term visa. The following screenshots elaborate that.

Documents to prove eligibility

page4image24370288

Documents to prove eligibility

Advice: Indeed, the Citizenship Amendment Act has just been enacted and, therefore, the rules will follow in due course. There is already an elaborate set of documents which CAB Pool beneficiaries applying for long-term visas must provide. Therefore, the Modi government should apply the same criteria to CAB Pool beneficiaries applying now for Indian citizenship. The reason is that permitting anyone from the three countries to claim he/she belongs to a minority religion and obtain Indian citizenship without corresponding documentation proving the basic elements of eligibility would be fraught with risks.

(vi) So, what happens to the Muslim in the NRC net?

If identified as a foreigner in the NRC Net, an Indian Muslim and an Indian Hindu both will be in the same boat. As explained above, for the Indian Hindu to seek benefit by slipping into the CAA Pool will be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

The question, then, is what happens to a Muslim illegal immigrant from the three countries? This category is divided into two parts:

(vi)(a) Muslim fleeing persecution of any type (Shia, Ahmedi, for example)

As Modi government’s document dated February 2018 specifies, such a person, even if he has illegally entered India, will be able to apply for a long-term visa by making an application to the FRRO. The persecution can be on any ground – race, religion, sex, nationality, ethnic identity, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Such a refugee will be able to take up employment in the private sector or undertake studies in India. This policy continues the one set in motion by the UPA government in 2011. For the convenience of readers, the screenshot is attached here:

UPA policy from 2011

page5image24344592

In due course of time, this category of visa holders will be able to apply for Indian citizenship by satisfying the standard physical residence requirement of eleven years and other criteria mentioned in The Citizenship Act, 1955.

(vi)(b) Muslim coming to India in search of economic opportunities

The government policies, both of the UPA and Modi government, have been clear in regard to ‘economic immigrants’. They are not eligible for long-term visas and are deportable as and when detected, whether through the NRC system or otherwise. Indeed, it is important to mention here that anyone belonging to any religion, and not a Muslim alone, could be an ‘economic immigrant’. The promise of Home Minister Amit Shah to expel infiltrators pertains to economic immigrants. The same screenshot, but with a different part highlighted, is attached here for the convenience of readers:

Policy about Muslim coming to India in search of economic opportunities

page6image24151680The government has asserted that CAA will not affect existing Indian citizens in any way. The opposition’s claim of CAA being in violation of articles 14,15 and 21 of the Indian Constitution also has been discredited by experts. Though the government is yet to lay down rules and details of the nation-wide NRC, the above explanations make it amply clear that the claim that Muslims will be discriminated against is based on propaganda by vested interests.

“Hinduon ke saath khilwad kiya gaya hai”: Watch as Muslim mob vandalises a Hanuman temple during anti-CAA riots in Bihar

OpIndia Staff
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“Hinduon ke saath khilwad kiya gaya hai”: Watch as Muslim mob vandalises a Hanuman temple during anti-CAA riots in Bihar

A muslim mob attacked and desecrated a temple in Bihar’s Patna on Saturday, December 21, 2019.


As seen above, a Hanuman temple was vandalised by the mob where some miscreants can be seen entering the temple and breaking the idol.

Read: ‘Hum Dekhenge’: Poems that speak of destruction of Murthis are unacceptable in India, and it does not matter who wrote it

The RJD had called for a Bandh in Bihar on Saturday when the violence took place. During the bandh, the rioters destroyed a Hanuman temple in Patna’s Phulwari. During the bandh, many RJD workers, armed with sticks and flags with RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s face on it, vandalised autorickshaws. As per reports, anti-CAA rally was passing through the Tamtam Padao in Phulwari Sharif area and was on its way to Sangatpar. However, Sangatpar residents were not permitting them to enter. Police had also not given them permission to move ahead. The matter escalated and they resorted to violence.

Read: Watch: While assuring a journalist that their anti-CAA protests are ‘peaceful’, RJD leader spots an autorickshaw and vandalises it

Another video from Phulwari Sharif area shows mob violence between two groups.


While the violence in Patna on Saturday injured as many as 25 people, OpIndia could not independently verify the claims that one person was shot dead in the riots. At least 11 people, including 2 policemen were admitted to AIIMS, of which six had bullet injuries.

Jharkhand results: Key Constituencies to watch out for as votes are counted

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand results: Key Constituencies to watch out for as votes are counted

The results of the Jharkhand Assembly Elections are set to be declared today. Ahead of the declarations of results, there are some seats that could provide some insight into the larger scheme of affairs. In this report, we shall discuss a few key seats in the elections.

Jamshedpur East

This is the seat the Jharkhand Chief Minister is contesting from. Raghubar Das has held this seat since 1995. However, this time, he is being challenged by BJP rebel and from Das’ former Cabinet Minister Saryu Rai. The Congress has fielded Gaurav Vallabh from the Constituency. The Prime Minister addressed a rally here on the second of December.

Dumka and Barhait

Hemant Soren, JMM’s CM Candidate, is contesting from these two constituencies. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed rallies during the BJP’s campaign in both these constituencies. On 15th December, Narendra Modi addressed a rally in Dumka. And on the 17th, he addressed a rally at Barhait. It was in Dumka that Narendra Modi made the ‘rioters can be recognized from their clothes’ remark following the nationwide instances of mob violence. Hemant Soren had won the Barhait constituency in 2014.

Key Constituencies Amit Shah addressed

Amit Shah addressed 11 rallies in the State. As expected, he avoided the regions already covered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Of the rallies Shah addressed, Chakradharpur and Baghmara are constituencies one should keep an eye out for. The former has a JMM incumbent, Shashibhushan Samad, going up against the BJP State President Laxman Gilua. In Baghmara, incumbent BJP MLA Dulu Mahto goes up against Congress’ Jaleshwar Mahato.

Other Important Constituencies as Jharkhand results trickle in

Bagodar is another constituency to keep an eye out for as the Jharkhand results trickle in. CPI(ML) candidate Vinod Kumar Singh had won this seat in 2005 and 2009. But BJP’s Nagendra Mahto had managed to snatch it away from Singh in 2014. Khunti is another seat BJP has held ever since the state went to polls for the first time in 2005.

It will be interesting to see if the BJP manages to hold on this seat this time around. The Sili Constituency is one where the AJSU could have a chance of winning. It had won the seat in 2005 and 2009 but the JMM had managed to snatch it away from them in 2014. The Dumka, Khunti and Barhait are in the Tribal Belt and it will be interesting to see how things pan out at the end of the day.

Jharkhand results: BJP reaches out to AJSU, JVM in Jharkhand as early trends show close fight between BJP and Congress alliance

OpIndia Staff
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Jharkhand results: BJP reaches out to AJSU, JVM in Jharkhand as early trends show close fight between BJP and Congress alliance

The Jharkhand Assembly Election results are set to be announced today. Early trends show a neck-to-neck fight between BJP and Congress-Jharkhand Mukti Morch (JMM) alliance. Anticipating that the results might just lead to a hung assembly, according to media reports, BJP has reached out to All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) and The Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) as a Plan-B in the state.

Per media reports, the BJP leadership is in touch with AJSU Chief Sudesh Mahto and JVM chief Babulal Marandi in Jharkhand with both parties making headway in the state according to early trends.

Read: Jharkhand Results: Early trends suggest BJP performing better than what Exit Polls predicted

AJSU and JVM are currently leading in 7 seats while the BJP is leading in 30. The majority mark in the state of Jharkhand is 41 seats.

The AJSU and JVM are likely to be kingmakers in Jharkhand with ruling BJP being in direct contest with JMM-Cong-RJD alliance and AJSU emerging as the third pole of the elections.

The AJSU had fought the 2014 elections in alliance with the BJP and won 5 out of 8 seats. It was also a part of the Raghubar Das government in Jharkhand, however, just before the assembly elections, AJSU had severed the alliance and decided to contest alone. AJSU is contesting on 53 out of the total 81 seats.

Read: Jharkhand Assembly Elections: Tough match for BJP, don’t be surprised if CM loses, says political analyst Pradip Bhandari

AJSU had indicated in before the elections that it will be open to a post-poll alliance with the BJP.

“I don’t want to make the government of any party or individual. I want the government of the people of Jharkhand which works for the overall development of the people… For me, the Congress and the BJP are same,” Mahato had said when asked about whom his party would support if the polls throw up a fractured mandate.

He had alleged that both national parties (Congress and BJP) don’t pay attention to local issues after winning the election.

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