I Will Declare as a Muslim If Parliament Passes Citizenship Amendment Bill, Says Harsh Mander

Airing anguish against the controversial ​Citizenship Amendment Bill, writer and activist Harsh Mander said he will declare himself as a Muslim if Lok Sabha passes the contentious bill. “If CAB is passed, this is my civil disobedience: I will officially register Muslim,” Mander tweeted on Tuesday.

The Lok Sabha on Monday passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill despite strong protests from the Opposition parties. Now the Bill awaits to clear the Rajya Sabha test.

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 I will finally demand the same punishment as any undocumented Muslim- detention centre & withdrawn citizenship.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

Earlier on Sunday also, while speaking at a protest gathering organised by All India Students’ Association (AISA) at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, the former bureaucrat said he would boycott the NRC process and choose to not submit any documents to prove citizenship.

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“If the CAB is passed, I will declare as a Muslim. Secondly, I won’t submit any documents to prove my identity. Thirdly, if the state put any Muslim in jail, I will be one of them,” Mander was quoted saying on Sunday.

Harsh Mander is a columnist, researcher, and activist. He has been vocal against the incidents of lynching, clampdown in Kashmir and issues related to National Register of Citizens. He had worked for almost two decades in the Indian Administrative Service in both Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.

Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2019 has been approved by the union cabinet on 4 December. The bill invited sheer criticism from across the country saying provisions of the bill are anti-Muslim and anti-minority.

The bill will provide Indian citizenship to the six minority communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. These six communities are – Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi, Christian and Sikhs. But, the bill excludes Muslims from these countries.

According to opposition parties and concerned citizens, the bill specifically targeted the Muslim community. Opposition parties also said that this is a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution, which speaks of the right to equality and it stands contradictory to the values of secularism and quality enshrined by the constitution.