Contrary to the claims of the Indian government, these 60,000 people in 107 camps of Tamil Nadu assert that they are of Indian origin and have been demanding Indian nationality. The controversial new Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 is widely considered to be pro-Hindu and pro other non-Muslim minorities. But it seems it is of no use to the Tamils, most of whom are Hindus. The fate of the Tamils is more uncertain than the Biharis of Bangladesh who were at least offered Bangladeshi nationality. Many of the Biharis also accepted it but the Tamils face a great dilemma. They cannot return to the island state fearing persecution from Sinhala Buddhists who abominate them for being allegedly allies of the Tamil Tigers in the past.
The Sri Lankan government is also skeptical about their loyalty to the Buddhist-dominated state. This leaves them with no option but to start their lives from scratch. Meanwhile, even after spending several decades in India, there is no process or amendment in the Indian constitution that grants them citizenship. This unfortunately strips away the basic human rights of these individuals. They cannot travel abroad, are deprived of government jobs and have a strong sense of alienation in Indian society because they are disfranchised, having no say in the Indian democratic system.
What is surprising is that they cannot even get a house on rent in town and are confined to camps only. This diminishes their chances of climbing the social ladder and they are condemned to be at the bottom layer of social stratification. A number of Tamil students of Sri Lankan origin are excellent in their studies but they are not allowed to travel even if they are offered scholarship by prestigious universities from across the world. Recently some prominent personalities raised this issue of citizenship. Renowned spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravishanker took to twitter to talk about the issue, saying he made many efforts to highlight the issue of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. He cited his meeting with former Indian president Dr. Abul Kalam where he raised this issue besides presenting a petition signed by 10 million people to ex-Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He questioned the rationality of denying nationality to these hapless people who acquired this in Canada, Europe and other countries.
The US panel has also slammed the bill by saying that, any religious test undermines democracy. The bill is even against India’s own constitution because being a democratic and secular country any law that reflects religious bias cannot be part of any act or constitution. While the CAA protects and welcomes persecuted Hindu, Parsi, Jain, and Christian communities from neighboring countries, it does not extend the same treatment to Muslims.
Defending his government's position, Home Minister Amit Anilchandra Shah recently told media that Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan are Muslims majority countries, asserting there cannot be any question of persecution of Muslims in those states. What he forgot to mention is the sectarianism in Muslim countries and that some Muslim minority sects are facing persecution from majority sects.
Apart from that, 90,000 people were not registered even after providing their documents, including former Indian president Fakharudine Ali Ahmed’s family. These people have been living in the largest democracy since 1986. Amit Shah once described these refugees as termites for India. The Citizen Amendment Act excludes 100,000 Tamil Sri Lankans who had been part of India for about 35 years, where, according to Aljazeera, 25,000 children were also born in these camps. These camps were a temporary solution for refugees because they were meant to be sent them back to Sri Lanka after the restoration of peace that was disrupted by the civil war which lasted for years, ending in 2009.
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