Mumbai: Mumbai High Court lawyer Abhinav Chandrachud, pointed out the legal and unconstitutional aspects of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and said that it excludes minorities like Muslims and Jews.
At the flagship symposium of a Mumbai-based NGO, the Mumbai Collective, Chandrachud clarified how the law has included minorities six minorities from three countries—Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan—have been listed and how the Muslims excluded. The legal stalwart mentioned, “I have a Jewish friend from Kolkata and a few more in other countries but they find no mention in the list prepared by Indian government.”
While addressing an audience at the YB Chavan Centre in, he was quick to recall a response of a social media troll to his concern about Indian Jews. “Jews have their own state of Israel,” somebody informed me sarcastically.
Chandrachud bought many other exclusionary facets of the controversial legislation to the fore. A persecuted Parsi from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh would qualify for citizenship in India but a person belonging to the same faith from Iran is not welcome. Additionally, what about the sects such as Ahmedias within the Muslim communities? They too do not figure on the list. Then the atheists and transgenders who face oppression have also been overlooked by the controversial piece of legislation.
The lawyer attuned the audience to historical contexts about existing citizenship laws. According to him, these laws emanated out of the communally charged atmosphere of the 1947 partition of India.