After serving Maharashtra police for 22 years, Abdur Rahman resigned in an act of "civil disobedience" against the Citizenship Amendment Act. He spoke to Brut India about why he took the extreme step now when he had already applied for voluntary retirement a few months earlier.
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00:00I'm Abdur Rahman. I'm sorry and I have resigned from the Indian Police Service.
00:05I have been working in Maharashtra for more than 22 years.
00:09Brothers and sisters, as you know, the Citizenship Amendment Bill was approved by the Cabinet,
00:15then it was passed by the Lok Sabha, then Rajya Sabha, now it has become an Act.
00:20As you know, the Citizenship Amendment Act, as it is today,
00:25it discriminates the people of India on the basis of religion.
00:30It is against the basic feature of the Constitution.
00:33It is against the basic ethos and spirit of the Constitution.
00:37It violates Article 14, 15 and 25 of the Constitution.
00:42And as you know, if implemented, this Act is going to create chaos in the country.
00:48It will ruin the religious pluralism of the country.
00:53It will create chaos and communal hatred in the country.
00:58It will destroy the common fabric which you have in the country among various castes and communities.
01:04Seeing this, I was hurt. It was very painful for me.
01:10And I have resigned in the protest.
01:13As you know, resigning from a service after working for more than 22 years is painful.
01:19But I have resigned in the civil disobedience and I have decided not to attend the office.
01:26As you know, there are some allegations on online media that earlier I had given a VRS application.
01:36Yes, I had given a VRS application and it was resented on technical ground.
01:41And I have challenged it in the CAT, Central Administrative Tribunal.
01:46But that's a different thing.
01:47It was declined and if I wish, I can continue in the service.
01:53If I wish, I can take back the application in the CAT and I can continue in the service.
01:59But instead of waiting for the judgment of the CAT, in the protest, I have decided this thing.
02:06So the VRS is one thing and resigning from the service is a different thing.
02:11Second, as you know, this Citizenship Amendment Bill is basically against the people of India.
02:21It is not going to support other communities and it is not against only Muslims.
02:26As you know, if LRC is implemented, the National Register of Citizens is implemented,
02:32the common people, like the poor from all castes and communities,
02:37people from Muslim communities, people from other communities, they don't have any document.
02:42They will be forced to stand in a line and then collect the document to prove their citizenship.
02:48Can you question that we have voted the current regime to put you in a queue to collect the document?
02:55It is dangerous.
02:56In a small country like Singapore or other countries where the population is very small,
03:02you can implement NRC but in a country as huge as India where the population is 130 crore,
03:08you cannot ask the people to stand in a line and prove their citizenship.
03:12Whom are you asking?
03:13You are asking the people who have been living here for the thousands and thousands of years,
03:17the original residents of this country.
03:20I will ask the government to activate the department detection and deportation.
03:26You detect the people who have come from outside and deport them.
03:29Nobody is going to question them.
03:31But making an act exclusively for other communities and not including Muslims,
03:37it is basically a religious discrimination.
03:40And I want to say that religion cannot be a basis for granting a citizenship or taking the citizenship from a person.