NO. 3 FEBRUARY 2020 Introduction

India’s Citizenship Struggle The Modi Government Pushes Its Nationalist Agenda Christian Wagner and Richa Arora

With the recent reform of India’s citizenship law, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is pushing its Hindu-nationalist agenda. The reform became necessary to fix the shortcomings of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the state of Assam and to pave the way for a national citizens’ register. Crit- ics are accusing the government of outright discrimination, against Muslims in par- ticular, because the plan could deprive a large number of people of their right to citizenship and undermine fundamental values of the constitution. The measures have also met with much criticism internationally, including from the United States and the United Nations. India’s foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, has defended the reform plans and referred to China’s handling of domestic political problems. If India were to embark on such a path in the long term, this could pos- sibly spark a discussion on whether, and to what extent, an increasingly Hindu- nationalistic India can still be considered a partner that shares values with the West.

The controversy over the Citizenship The Ideological Basis (Amendment) Act and the creation of a national citizens’ register have triggered Based on its absolute majority in parlia- a great wave of protests against the Modi ment, the Modi government has been government in India. In many cities, there pushing its Hindu-nationalist “Hindutva” have been demonstrations and sometimes agenda (Hinduness) in its second term of violent clashes with the police. In Hydera- office since May 2019. This is primarily bad, for example, more than 100,000 directed against the Muslim minority. people protested in January 2020; in Man- According to the 2011 census, Muslims are galuru it was about 200,000. The magni- the largest minority in India, with more tude of the protests stems from the fact that than 170 million people, comprising 14.2 a huge number of people living in India per cent of the population. The most im- at the moment might not be able to claim portant milestones of recent months have Indian citizenship as a result of the two been the division of the Muslim-majority projects. state of Jammu and Kashmir into two cen- trally administered union territories and the publication of the NRC in Assam. The

Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of the gladesh to “termites” and demanded their construction of a Hindu temple on the site expulsion. For Assam, the NRC, which came of a mosque in the northern Indian city of into effect at the end of August 2019, de- Ayodhya has provided further impetus to clared about 1.9 million people stateless. the Hindu nationalist agenda. Shah reiterated that other states also had The foundations of the Hindutva ideolo- the possibility to set up their own registers gy were formulated in the 1920s and 1930s and repeatedly spoke out in favour of a by V. D. Savarkar and M. S. Golwalkar. For national citizens’ register. Golwalkar, the Hindu nation comprises the The BJP had already decided in 2003 to unity of geography, race, religion, culture, create a National Register of Indian Citi- and language. The decline of the once glo- zens. The data required for this is collected rious Hindu nation began, in his eyes, with via a National Population Register. Inter the conquest of India by the Muslims, and alia, this includes information on the birth later the British. These ideas continue today dates and birthplaces of parents. The back- in a modernised form in parts of the BJP ground to this lies in the modifications to and its affiliated groups, such as the National the law on citizenship that gradually re- Volunteer Organisation (Rashtriya Swayam- placed the birthplace principle (ius soli) with sevak Sangh, RSS). Prime Minister Modi and the principle of descent (ius sanguinis). Interior Minister Amit Shah started their The explosive political power of a national political careers in the RSS. Golwalkar is citizens’ register lies in the fact that many considered to have been one of Modi’s people will probably not be able to provide mentors. complete data. For instance, official IDs, The idea of Hindutva aims to restore such as the existing Aadhar card, have an the unity and greatness of India as a Hindu average error rate of 8.8 per cent. If this nation. This goes hand in hand with the error rate were to be applied to a national idea of the predominance of the Hindu citizens’ register, this would affect around majority and a reduction in privileges for 120 million people out of a population of minorities. Hindutva is thus less of a approximately 1.35 billion. Even with an religious project than a version of ethnic error rate of only 1 per cent, this would still nationalism. account for 13.5 million people. For exam- ple, the collection of personal data such as birth dates is often incomplete, and many The National Register of Citizens local administrations are considered to be inefficient and susceptible to corruption The dispute over a national citizens’ regis- and patronage. Hence, this would particu- ter is another central aspect of the debate larly affect lower caste and tribal groups in on the reform of citizenship law. rural areas. The current starting point is the conflict A national citizens’ register would also in the north-eastern state of Assam. There, be an administrative and financial tour de a conflict has been smouldering for decades force. Estimates say that about 40 per cent because of the question of illegal immigra- of all public servants would be involved in tion from neighbouring Bangladesh. As part the creation of a national citizens’ register. of the settlement of this conflict, the Con- The costs of the undertaking could amount gress government agreed with Assamese to €50 billion. parties in 1985 to update the NRC in Assam in order to deter illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. This process took on a new The Reform of the dynamic when the Supreme Court demanded Citizenship Law an update of the NRC in 2013. In the 2019 election campaign, Interior Minister Shah The political thrust of the NRC in Assam compared the illegal immigrants from Ban- was aimed primarily at illegal immigrants

SWP Comment 3 February 2020

2 from Bangladesh. Among the 1.9 million disconnections in 2018 and 2019. A num- who have since been regarded as stateless ber of states have already announced their persons, however, there are also many opposition to the reform and the related Hindus. In order to exempt them from legislation. the negative consequences of the NRC, the Indian Parliament passed a reform of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in December The International Dimension 2019. This act provides for the simplified naturalisation of religiously persecuted The domestic political reforms of recent Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Parsis, months, especially the restrictions on and Jains who came to India from the human rights in Kashmir, have already Muslim states of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, drawn a lot of international criticism. The and Pakistan before 31 December 2014. American government has expressed con- Interior Minister Shah himself has made cern about the situation in Kashmir on clear the connection between the reform, several occasions. During German Chancel- the NRC, and the national citizens’ register. lor Angela Merkel’s visit to New Delhi in The reform is discriminatory at multiple November 2019, she also criticised India’s levels: on the one hand, against Muslim Kashmir policy. The European Union is minorities such as the Ahmadiyya and the calling for unrestricted access to the region Shiites, who are repeatedly the targets of in order to be able to see the situation on attacks in Pakistan, for example; on the the ground for itself. other hand, Hindu Tamils from Sri Lanka However, the consequences of the na- are also left out of the legislation. BJP tional citizens’ register and the new citizen- ministers have defended this apparent dis- ship law are not limited to India. In the crimination by saying that Muslims have regional context, relations with Bangladesh, other countries where they could apply for where the greatest progress has been made citizenship in the event of persecution. in recent years, are particularly strained. The nationwide protests that have erupted The government in Dhaka has already in India in response to the law are therefore made it clear that it is only willing to take supported by a broad spectrum of the popu- back persons whose Bangladeshi citizenship lation. The Muslims are demonstrating has been clearly established. In response against the threat of discrimination, which, to the critical remarks of Malaysian Prime even if it does not render them stateless, Minister Mahathir Mohamad on the issue of would make them second-class citizens in Kashmir and the plans for citizenship, India an increasingly Hindu-nationalistic India. stopped its imports of Malaysian palm oil. The lower caste and tribal groups are pro- Due to the ongoing protests, the govern- testing against the threat of discrimination ment had to cancel a high-level meeting in if they are not able to present the relevant Assam with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo birth certificates of their parents. In soli- Abe. In addition to that, India has also darity with Muslims and lower castes, received much criticism from international liberal representatives of India are standing organisations. The International Commis- strong against the new legislation because sion of Jurists criticised the NRC in Assam. the reform violates the unalterable basic The United Nations Office for Human Rights structure of the constitution by including condemned the new citizenship law as dis- religion as a criterion for citizenship and criminatory, as did the United States Com- the discrimination associated with it. Last mission on International Religious Freedom. but not least, there are all of those who are A national citizens’ register poses a threat protesting against the increasing restric- to India’s international image at large. Even tions on freedom of expression and free- if the number of people denied the right to dom of the press, since India was the coun- citizenship at the end of the process is on try with the highest number of Internet the same scale as in Assam, the political

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3 and humanitarian question arises as to how on a trade agreement are resumed. Foreign India intends to deal with this population Minister Jaishankar himself has defended group in the long term. The people who the reform plans by referring to China’s are not granted Indian citizenship will most handling of its domestic problems. If India likely not be able to claim it for another really does see China’s approach as a model country. The state government in Assam for its future development and its dealings has already set up camps for people who with minorities, this will potentially trigger have been declared stateless. In addition a debate on whether, and to what extent, to the criticism from the Western states for an increasingly Hindu-nationalistic India is the way they treat these people, a number still a partner of common values with the © Stiftung Wissenschaft of states from the Middle East will probably West. und Politik, 2020 criticise India’s policy towards its Muslims All rights reserved more strongly than they have done towards China, for example, for its treatment of the This Comment reflects Uighurs. the authors’ views.

The online version of this publication contains Outlook functioning links to other SWP texts and other relevant The forced implementation of Hindu- sources. nationalist projects is taking place in a time SWP Comments are subject of economic downturn in India. Economic to internal peer review, fact- growth slipped to below 5 per cent at the checking and copy-editing. end of 2019. One may see BJP policy as an For further information on attempt to divert attention from economic our quality control pro- problems by means of a nationalist agenda. cedures, please visit the SWP website: https://www.swp- But it should not be overlooked that the berlin.org/en/about-swp/ BJP is primarily implementing its election quality-management-for- manifesto. swp-publications/ In the wake of mass protests, Prime Minister Modi declared that there are cur- SWP rently no plans for a national citizens’ regis- Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik ter. Even BJP ministers have admitted that German Institute for they would not be able to provide complete International and information for such a citizens’ register. Security Affairs Discussions on the citizens’ register and citizenship rights are building blocks on Ludwigkirchplatz 3–4 10719 Berlin the way to transforming India into a Hindu Telephone +49 30 880 07-0 nation. Interior Minister Shah wants to open Fax +49 30 880 07-100 up the bureaucracy for lateral entrants, www.swp-berlin.org paving the way not only for experts but also [email protected] for party political nominations. He also

ISSN 1861-1761 wants to promote the use of Hindi in India doi: 10.18449/2020C03 and expand the Western concept of human rights to include traditional elements. (English version of India’s domestic political developments SWP-Aktuell 2/2020) will also draw the attention of German and European politics, at the latest when talks

Dr Christian Wagner is Senior Fellow in the Asia Division. Richa Arora is Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in the Asia Division.

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