The Narendra Modi government has introduced the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and is all set to pass it in the ongoing parliamentary season. Religious discrimination is writ large on the Bill, which is fundamentally unconstitutional because the basic idea of India has been violated. It was Pakistan, not India, whose creation was premised on the belief that religion should determine nationhood. We have always argued that the idea of our nation was fundamentally secular, as envisaged by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and B.R. Ambedkar. The Bill certainly erodes the secular fabric of our democracy.
Seraj Ali,
Bengaluru
