A Muslim student, a Hindu refugee from Pakistan and an Assamese professional share their personal view on the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act.
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00:00So, of course, we don't trust the intentions of this government and we know how Islamophobic this government is.
00:09We are afraid that someone from Pakistan or Bangladesh will send us.
00:17We are fighting to save our language, our individuality and our ethnic culture.
00:30The bill, at the very first look of it, is, of course, anti-Muslim because if a bill is including all communities from three neighboring countries
00:50and is excluding just one single community, that is Muslims, so, of course, it is an anti-Muslim bill.
00:57What I think of it is that I don't see it in isolation. I see it connected to NRC.
01:03So, when the government says that they will launch nationwide NRC and we have a practical example of what happened in Assam,
01:12how arbitrarily they gave names in the register and so a sister's name was there and another sister's name was not there.
01:21So, of course, we don't trust the intentions of this government and we know how Islamophobic this government is.
01:29So, we are scared that maybe if my name is not in the list and GAB is there, so I won't be given citizenship even if I try to apply for it.
01:38Even though I have been, my parents have been, my grandparents have been in this country for a very long time, but still.
01:51For 20 years, 15 years, the suffering families who had come from Pakistan and Bangladesh to India,
01:59they were not getting shelter. They had the passport of Pakistan and Bangladesh in their neck.
02:06We have got a new life.
02:08We have got rid of the fear that someone from Pakistan or Bangladesh will send us.
02:17Now there is no fear. Now it seems that our life will not be at the feet of Mother India.
02:30Citizenship Amendment Act 2019.
02:34On the basis of this Act, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, Christians who have come from Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh,
02:48on or before 31st of December 2014, if they have entered India before that date, then India will give them their citizenship.
03:04On what basis will it be given?
03:07That they are persecuted minorities in their country.
03:12This means that they are not safe in their country.
03:16In their country, they are persecuted on the basis of their religion.
03:24Now these protests are happening everywhere, North, South, East, West.
03:30This is happening because everyone thinks that this Act is not Secular.
03:42No government can give citizenship on the basis of religion.
03:50Because this is against our Constitution.
03:53Now let's come to the North East.
03:55A stand-up comedian has said very well that North East is the part of India that is always cropped in selfies.
04:07Either forgotten or misunderstood.
04:11Anyway, the point is that we are also opposing CAB and CAA.
04:17We are trying our best not to implement this Act.
04:23But there is a lot of difference between the protests happening in the rest of the countries and ours.
04:32Our protest is not on religious grounds.
04:38Our fight is something else.
04:40Our fight is for our existence.
04:45Our fight is to save our language, our individuality and our ethnic culture.