When we claim a piece of land as an integral part of our country, does that include the people who live on that piece of land?
Nations are random lines drawn on a map. So the definition of an Indian changes depending on the time period to which you are referring. If it is only the land that we claim as Indian and not its people, then anyone not standing within those lines is not an Indian. That will of course get a lot of push back, since there is a large diaspora that identify themselves as of Indian origin.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) narrow down the definition of citizenship to a sliver of a band, in the process insulting the very idea of India and Indianness.
Here is a short quiz. Identify who are Indians.
Person A: Parents born in India. Person A born in India. Living in the UAE. Children born in the UAE. Person A has never paid any taxes in India, and in the last 20 years has spent less that 24 months total within the boundaries of India.
Person B: Parents born in India. Person B born in India. Living in the USA. Children born in the USA. Person A has never paid any taxes in India. In the last 20 years, Person A has spent less that 1 month within the boundaries of India. Has spent the last 20 years desperate for US citizenship.
Person C: Parents born in Bangladesh. Person C born in India, studied in India, and works in India. Person C’s children are all born in India. Person C is a daily wage earner, so doesn’t pay any income tax. However, Person C buys products in India and pays GST and other taxes while making purchases. Person C is desperate to be identified as an Indian.
Which of the people mentioned here are real Indians, from the perspective of citizenship?
Land and space are inanimate things. People, on the other hand, are living beings. When we say we are protecting India, shouldn’t our first order of business be to protect the people rather than the land on which a border was drawn?
By this, I don’t mean we shouldn’t protect our borders. That is necessary and must be done. But, even more important is the need to protect the people who are India.
We have to ask ourselves how we define our nation? Is it just a set of borders? Is that all that it is?
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