India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI—Tamil Nadu’s ruling party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has raised a banner of revolt against the central government over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) calling it “arbitrary and against the Tamil race.”
In an affidavit to Supreme Court, DMK said CAA is “against the Tamil race” as it “keeps out” from its purview the Tamil refugees who came to India from Sri Lanka where they “faced religious persecution as they were predominantly Hindu.”
“The impugned Act is against Tamil race and keeps out the similarly placed Tamils who are residing in Tamil Nadu from the purview of the Act…the impugned Act ignores the reality that for several decades Tamil refugees who have settled in Tamil Nadu are deprived of fundamental rights and other rights due to non-citizenship and due to non-naturalization and the impugned Act does not provide for any reasons to exclude them,” DMK organizing secretary R S Bharathi said.
DMK said the Act is “arbitrary as it relates to only three countries viz Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh and confines to only six religions viz Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, and Christian communities and expressly excludes Muslim religion.”
“The Sinhalese population of Sri Lanka which is a Buddhist majority has historically considered the Tamils as invaders, infringing on Sinhalese territory…As per Clause 9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution, the Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place, and accordingly, it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana while assuring all rights to all religions,” DMK said.
“The basis for the inclusion of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh was that their Constitutions provided for a specific state religion due to which the religious minorities faced persecution on grounds of religion. The situation in Sri Lanka is akin to the one in the…three countries as not only the Indian Tamils have faced religious persecution as they were predominantly Hindu, they have faced rampant persecution due to their minority status since Ceylon’s independence from British rule”.
DMK said the government of India has categorically remained silent to the plight of the Tamil refugees and adopted step-motherly behaviour towards the Tamil refugees.
“Being stateless, they have been denied employment in the government services or in organized private sectors, the right to hold property, right to vote, enjoyment of govt benefits received by the citizens and others despite there being an agreement for the same,” the party said.
The affidavit said due to ambiguity, they are forced to stay in camps where they are often exploited having no prospects of security in the future.
“Lack of jobs and access to basic rights and amenities has left these refugees handicapped and distraught. These refugees who arrived at the country of their origin i.e., India with the hope that the Indo-Sri Lankan agreements will protect them from the ensuing persecution so that they could have a brighter future, discrimination-free environment, and better standards of life are now in a far worse state than before. The requests for citizenship by these Tamil refugees who have spent years in refugee camps have fallen on deaf ears,” the party said.
DMK said the reasons for their fleeing from Sri Lanka have not changed as many displaced persons escaped their country due to the large-scale violence and unsafe circumstances and came to India hoping for a colourful future.
The DMK said the CAA introduces a completely new basis for the grant/non-grant of citizenship on the grounds of religion, which destroys the basic fabric of secularism. There is no reason why Muslims were altogether excluded even in the…countries wherein they have suffered from persecution.
“The impugned Act firstly gives undue advantage and benefits to illegal migrants while failing to achieve the real objective of the enactment i.e. to provide support to persons persecuted on grounds of religion, secondly, such classification is made applicable only to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh having no rational nexus with policy and object of the impugned Act despite the fact that the Clause 9 of the Sri Lankan Constitution itself gives importance to Buddhism over all other religions,” DMK said.
