‘I’ll Be Muslim’: Mander, Others Pick Civil Disobedience Over CAB

Many activists and former IAS officers like Harsh Mander have put out a clarion call for Indians to start a civil disobedience movement, a ‘satyagraha’, against the polarising Citizenship Amendment Bill and the proposed nationwide exercise of National Register of Citizens.

‘Will Formally Become Muslim If CAB Is Passed’: Harsh Mander

Mander said that if the Citizenship Bill, that cleared Lok Sabha with comfortable majority on Monday, 9 December, is passed in the Rajya Sabha, then he will officially register himself as a Muslim.

If CAB is passed, this is my civil disobedience:
I will officially register Muslim. I will then refuse to submit any documents to NRC. I will finally demand the same punishment as any undocumented Muslim- detention centre & withdrawn citizenship.
Join this civil disobedience

— Harsh Mander (@harsh_mander) December 10, 2019

Senior journalist Nikhil Wagle backed Mander’s call for civil disobedience and tweeted, “I agree with your call for disobedience. But as an atheist, I won’t adopt any religion. As a citizen of India, I will fight #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 and NRC.”

I agree with your call for disobedience. But as an atheist I won’t adopt any religion. As a citizen of India I will fight #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 and NRC. https://t.co/9EcW8EwZ6h

— nikhil wagle (@waglenikhil) December 10, 2019

‘Will Go To Detention Centre If Declared Non-Citizen’: Ex-IAS Officer Writes to Amit Shah

S Sashikanth Senthil, former IAS officer who had resigned in September citing the clampdown in Jammu and Kashmir over Article 370, wrote a strongly worded letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, saying the passage of the CAB in Lok Sabha “marked the darkest day in the history of modern India.”

He wrote, “I refuse to accept the process of enumeration in NRC by not submitting the requisite documents to prove my citizenship and I’m willing to accept the action taken by the India state against my disobedience.

“If the state chooses to declare me as a non-citizen, I would also be happy to fill up the many detention centers that you are building all over the country. I would accept the incarceration with all humbleness than to wait at the sidelines as a mute spectator to the communal profiling and disenfranchising of my fellow humans.”

I should remind that irrespective of the status of the CAB the idea of an all India NRC by itself is a dehumanizing effort. We as people of this country should now stand up for all the marginalized. Annexed is my letter to the Home minister. It is Time to Act.#CABNRCSatyagraha pic.twitter.com/nhxrWEz8SS

— sashikanth senthil (@s_kanth) December 10, 2019

Many on Twitter joined the call for civil disobedience with the hashtag #CABNRCSatyagraha. Among them was activist and former Jawaharlal Nehru University student union leader Umar Khalid, who tweeted, “The idea that I have to prove my citizenship is an affront on my dignity & that of everyone.”

If CAB is passed & NRC is rolled out, I pledge on the Constitution of India that I will not submit any documents. The idea that I have to prove my citizenship is an affront on my dignity & that of everyone.

Retweet if you too will boycott NRC. #CABNRCSatyagraha

— Umar Khalid (@UmarKhalidJNU) December 10, 2019

I, James Wilson, refuse to submit to this immoral act by not submitting the requisite documents needed to prove my citizenship. I will stand along with my brothers & sisters rather than be a mute spectator to their disenfranchisement.#CABNRCSatyagraha pic.twitter.com/B6rccVQBrr

— James Wilson (@jamewils) December 10, 2019

I, Advocate Manoj, will follow the path of Satyagraha & refuse submission of any documents to prove my citizenship. I commit to stand with & support every fellow citizen, who may be subjected to the immoral & unconstitutional acts in the name of #CAB/NRC#CABNRCSatyagraha

— Adv. Manoj (@RURALINDIA) December 10, 2019

CAB is blatant misuse of power. I will do everything in my capacity to not let this fascist government divide my India. #CABNRCSatyagraha#CABAgainstConstitution#IndiaRejectsCAB pic.twitter.com/WiNblOiI9U

— Sneha (@sneha2986) December 10, 2019

NRC & CAB amounts to dehumanization of Muslims

I stand by Article 14 of the Indian Constitution which guarantees Fundamental Right to Equality of all Persons

Help keep India a multicultural, multireligious, multilingual secular progressive country

Jai Hind.#CABNRCSatyagraha pic.twitter.com/uaCSqdQNyd

— Srivatsa (@srivatsayb) December 10, 2019

According to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, members of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian communities who have come from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan before 31 December 2014 due to religious persecution will not be treated as illegal immigrants, but will be given Indian citizenship.