Govt considers every dissenter an enemy: Shashi Deshpande

The Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) is a discriminatory law as it assumes that every Muslim country persecutes its religious minorities. That is the majoritarianism and anti-Muslim nature of the act, said historian Ramachandra Guha.

He was speaking at a discussion organised by the Network of Women in Media, India, to discuss citizenship, identity and migration on Friday.

The Central government wants to make Indian Muslims second-class citizens, and this is most apparent for anyone who has been to Gujarat. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) aims at intimidating and harassing Indian Muslims, he said.

He further stated that the government introduced the CAA as it took things for granted because there were no protests following the Ayodhya verdict and the abrogation of Article 370.

Speaking about the police violence at Jamia Millia Islamia university on December 15, 2019, he said Indira Gandhi and the Viceroy were authoritarian but they had read books and did not burn down libraries.

'Situation is fluid'

Novelist Shashi Deshpande said: "Right now, the situation is fluid, and things are uncertain. There is no whisper of a conciliatory gesture. The government believes that this resistance must be met by brute force, and the belief is that if you are not with us, you are the enemy. This is not how democracy works."

She added: "We want women and men who speak of tolerance and people who know we have to come together for people to go on." Deshpande added that women who had never come out on the streets had become the face of the protest.