Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 20-08-2019
A journalist for Scroll has told Radio Islam while more than 4 million people in India, mostly Muslims, are at risk of being declared foreign migrants, Hindu’s have also not been spared.
This as the government pushes a hardline Hindu nationalist agenda that has challenged the country’s pluralist traditions and aims to redefine what it means to be Indian.
The hunt for migrants is unfolding in Assam, a state near the borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Many of the people whose citizenship is now being questioned were born in India and have enjoyed all the rights of citizens, such as voting in elections.
Arunabh Saikia says the hardline Hindu nationalist agenda has not only targeted Muslims, but Hindus as well.
“The four million people who are part of the final draft which is coming out on the 31st of August, we are not exactly sure that the majority of them are Muslims. It’s quite likely that there’s a very sizeable Hindu population also. That is what has made India’s right wing Hindu nationalist party very unconcerned about their nation right now.”
Less than two weeks ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unilaterally wiped out the statehood of India’s only Muslim-majority state, Jammu and Kashmir, removing its special autonomy and turning it into a federal territory without any consultation with local leaders, many of whom have since been arrested.
Listen to the interview with Arunabh Saikia
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