Amidst a push by the Congress-led Opposition parties for Parliament to withdraw the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Congress Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa has written to President Ram Nath Kovind to expand the ambit of the Act and include the Ahmadiyya sect among the six communities eligible for citizenship.
“It is my hope that the Government of India, will continue to protect those who are oppressed and persecuted around us and look at expanding the ambit of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, under your directions,” Mr. Bajwa said in his letter dated on December 20.
Asked about the contradiction between his stand and that of his party, Mr. Bajwa said, “Now after Rashtrapati-ji’s assent, it is the law. And until courts undo it, this will be the law. The party's view is that for the entire country but I am articulating local concerns.”
“This year when we are celebrating Guru Nanak Dev- ji , the founder of Sikhism. And Sikh Gurus like Guru Gobind Singh have taught us to stand with the oppressed,” Mr. Bajwa told The Hindu .
Punjab connect
In his letter to President Kovind, the Congress MP argued that Ahmadiyyas have faced persecution in Pakistan since 1953 and the Pakistani State doesn't recognize them as Muslims.
“In 1974, the Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto passed the Second Amendment to the Pakistani Constitution, which in effect declared this entire community as “non-Muslims.” Further in 1984, the Zia-ul-Haq Government passed Ordinance XX, that prohibited the Ahmadiyyas from identifying themselves as Muslims, using Islamic texts to pray and from publicly practising the Islamic faith,” Mr. Bajwa said in his letter.
The MP stated that the Ahmediyya sect was started in Qadian in Punjab, a constituency that his family had held for over three decades.
“The Ahmadiyya community are followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who was born in Qadian, in the State of Punjab. It is here he began his teachings and where the Aqsa Mosque and White Minaret was built as per his instructions...Such is the significance of Qadian to the movement, that it is as holy as a city for the Ahmadiyyas, like Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur is for the Sikhs.”
While Mr Bajwa’s letter to the President mentions “equality and secularism” while arguing for the inclusion of Ahmadiyyas, the Congress has opposed the Act on the grounds that it makes religion a criterion for granting citizenship and violates the Constitution.
