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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 17-Dec-2019
17-Dec-19 World View -- India's Citizenship Bill riots evoke memories of the 1947 Partition War

Web Log - December, 2019

17-Dec-19 World View -- India's Citizenship Bill riots evoke memories of the 1947 Partition War

Riots spread across India along Hindu-Muslim fault line

by John J. Xenakis

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

Riots spread across India along Hindu-Muslim fault line
India's Citizenship Bill riots evoke memories of the 1947 Partition War

Riots spread across India along Hindu-Muslim fault line

Students and police face off at Nadwa College in Lucknow (ANI)

Students and police face off at Nadwa College in Lucknow (ANI)

A proposed bill that appears to discriminate against Muslims has triggered demonstrations and riots in multiple cities across India, including college campuses in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Lucknow, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata (Calcutta) and Mumbai (Bombay). The protests have been mostly peaceful, but there has been some violence, and there is viral video of people attacking peacefully protesting students and beating them. Six people have died in Delhi, about 200 were injured.

The proposed Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) is complex. It allows refugees from three neighboring countries -- Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan -- to seek citizenship in India.

But there's a requirement: The refugee seeking citizenship must not be Muslim. He or she may be Hindu, Christian, Jain, Parsi, Sikh or Buddhist, but not Muslim.

The reason given for this restriction is that all three of these neighboring countries are "Muslim countries," with majority Muslim populations and Muslim governments. So the CAB is said to provide citizenship to harassed or persecuted religious minorities in the three Muslim countries. The explanation ignores the issue of the Sufis and Ahmadis in Pakistan, who are Muslim, but are still targeted and persecuted.

According to prime minister Narendra Modi, Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are not covered because they have no need of India's protection. He tweeted that the new law "does not affect any citizen of India of any religion."

However, Modi is leader of the Hindu nationalist BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), and activists are accusing Modi of discriminating against Muslims, and violating India's secular constitution.

This is the second major Indian government decision this year that has triggered protests and complaints of discrimination against Muslims.

In August, India revoked Article 370 of India's constitution. That article made Kashmir, which is a Muslim majority province, a semi-autonomous state of India, allowing some level of self-government. Revoking Article 370 means that Kashmir no longer has a special status, and is now just another state in India, under full control of Delhi. To prevent riots, Kashmir has been on virtual lockdown for several months, with strick curfews and with limited phone and internet service.

These two changes have something in common, at least in the eyes of the demonstrators. Revoking Article 370 means that, for the first time, Hindus will be able to buy property in Kashmir, and Muslims in Kashmir fears that in time Hindus will be in the majority. In the case of the new citizenship bill, some protesters have expressed the fear that an influx of Hindus from neighboring countries will cause some border area, especially in Assam in the northeast, to become Hindu majority in time.

Actually, residents of Assam are protesting the citizenship bill for entirely different reasons. Assam is populated by some 70 different ethnic groups, and they fear that any influx of refugees, whether Hindu or Muslim, will mean that they will lose their ethnic character. Indigenous people in Assam speak Assamese and Bengali, and both groups for years have competed over jobs and resources.

India's Citizenship Bill riots evoke memories of the 1947 Partition War

India's previous two generational crisis wars were India's 1857 Rebellion, which pitted Hindu nationalists against British colonists, and then the 1947 Partition War, one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century, pitting Hindus against Muslims, following the partitioning of the Indian subcontinent into India and Pakistan.

Today, the survivors of the 1947 Partition War have almost all died off, leaving behind younger generations with no fear of repeating past disasters. Generational Dynamics predicts that there will be a new civil war between Muslims and Indians, or an external war with Pakistan, or both.

The number and belligerence of riots and demonstrations in India have been growing and spreading across the country for several weeks. It remains to be seen whether these demonstrations will fizzle out, or whether they will continue to grow into a much large anti-government rebellion.

Sources:

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(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the Generational Dynamics World View News thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (17-Dec-2019) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 17-Dec-2019 17-Dec-19 World View -- India's Citizenship Bill riots evoke memories of the 1947 Partition War

Riots spread across India along Hindu-Muslim fault line

India's Citizenship Bill riots evoke memories of the 1947 Partition War

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 17-Dec-2019
17-Dec-19 World View -- India's Citizenship Bill riots evoke memories of the 1947 Partition War