Parmanand Pandey, Advocate, Supreme Court (Secretary General IPC)
Protest against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) is totally phoney and baseless and this is the reason that it has fizzled out. It is being kept alive in certain places by those people, who have their own axes to grind. The protest was bound to die because of its own inherent weaknesses. From day one, it was as clear as daylight to everybody that the protest had no legs to stand upon. It has been managed, sponsored by the people, who have been playing to the tunes of the anti-national forces.
The most shocking thing, however, was to find such a vast number of people in our country, who can go to any extent to harm the interests of the country and every stick is good enough for them to beat the patriotic forces. They join and play all conspiratorial games to weaken the fabric of the country. They usually speak the language that is music to the ears of the Pakistani establishment.
Is it not intriguing that those who have been most intolerant tell them to be more tolerant? Those who have never given any space to anybody, they preach to be more accommodative. Recently, when there were attacks and ransacking of Nankana Saheb Gurudwara, the birthplace of Guru Nanak and presently situated in Pakistan, then there was no protest march by these Jonnies. Some of the champions of the secularism in India, albeit, quoted Mohammad Prophet who, they say, ordained his followers not to disturb those persons in Mecca, who do not believe in Islam. Prophet gave them full freedom to follow their religious paths and beliefs.
The words and deeds of Prophet Mohammad are considered to be most sacrosanct in Islam and therefore, non-Muslims should have flourished in Mecca. But for the last nearly 1500 years no trace of any non-Muslim is found in Mecca. This clearly shows that Islam essentially has no spirit of tolerance and when it comes to persecuting and converting the non-Islamists, this religion is simply unbeatable. This is the reason that mid-east countries like Iran, Iraq and Syria etc. were converted to Islam in less than three decades of attacks of Islam. This amply proves the point that when it comes to the religion Islam has little space for tolerance.
Now coming to the CAA, it has been proved beyond doubt, that it has unjustifiably been linked to a particular religion. The most disgusting spectacle of it is that some of the leaders of the Congress Party are busy spearheading this protest. In Shaheen Bagh of New Delhi, near Jamia University, some women are forced to sit on dharna and demonstration, who have no idea of what the CAA is. Obviously, it is being done at the instance of Sonia Gandhi, who is now feeling the heat of the tightening noose of the Modi administration. These leaders are stoking communalism by attaching the CAA with anti-Islam.
Since gullible easily fall prey to such appeals, Muslims have been turned against the CAA. Most of the Muslims, who are even highly educated have developed diabolical hatred for the Narendra Modi Government and hence they are doing everything to paint CAA as the anti-Muslim. They think that if the protest against the CAA is stopped, then the Modi Government will be emboldened to bring about the Uniform Civil Code and introduce the Two-Child Policy. They think that Two-Child norms and Uniform Civil Code are against the basic ingredients of Islam. Therefore, they trust the Constitution of India only to the extent it does not interfere into their personal laws but when it comes to taking the benefits under the same constitution, they swear by it. Otherwise, there is no reason, why should they raise the slogans in Muslim dominated areas like that ‘Hindustan ka aien, hamen manjoor mahin, manjoor nahi’ (We do not have any trust in the Constitution of India)? This double-speak of the Muslim leaders depict their mentality of deception and cheating.
The Modi government deserves unqualified support and admiration from all patriotic people because it has taken steps for the uniform development for all sections of the society; be it universal electrification, construction of roads, extension of bank facilities or expansion of other basic amenities, like providing LPG cylinders or providing toilets to all households without any discrimination of caste, creed and religion. Those who do not want the country to march on the path of the progress, it is they who are creating these problems.