Indian rights activist slams Modi govt for disenfranchising Muslims ahead of elections

Kavita Krishnan says BJP's hate-mongering is alienating the Muslim minority in Assam

Indian rights activist and political leader Kavita Krishnan on Monday criticised the disenfranchising of millions of Muslim immigrants in Assam by the Modi government, terming the move politically motivated.

"The process to spread all sorts of hatred, hate mongering against immigrants, especially those who belong to the Muslim minority, that is being done by the current BJP government," said the politburo  member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI-ML) when asked if the crisis in Assam was politically cultivated.

She was speaking exclusively with Tribune 24/7's programme Media Watch's host Vaqas Asghar.



"The government is trying to make a distinction between Muslims and Hindus," she said while talking about the National Register of Citizens (NRC). "This phobia against immigrants needs to be fought."

"In their [BJP's] notion of nation, no Muslim belongs to India," Kavita, who is also a leader of the Communist Party of India, said.

Regarding the ousting of Bangladeshis from India, she said the government was using xenophobia as a tool to win the elections. "No matter what the number of migrants is, they should not be rendered stateless overnight."

She termed it the responsibility of the people of India to actually be vigilant about it. "No matter what, we cannot allow a system or a process that renders people stateless; that's not something done in a democracy."



Concluding the programme, host Vaqas Asghar termed it a very calculated move on BJP’s part to carefully create disturbance, the given next year’s election to threaten its minorities, create fear and panic, and increase their votes.

However, he warned, the kind of policies which Mr. Modi and his party has adopted might instead back fire and create instability within the sub-continent that even they wouldn't want.

"Disturbing four million people is playing with fire that too after 40 years, which only begs the questions, on what trajectory is Secular India moving," he added.