'Muslims living in India for generations will become Stateless': MIT students, faculty, alumni condemn CAA, NRC; full text

The students, faculty, staff, alumni and affiliates of Boston’s Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) issued a statement expressing solidarity with the protests being witnessed across India against the amended Citizenship Act.The statement also condemned the police action against protests at Jamia Millia Islamia University, Aligarh Muslim University, Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Jama Masjid and Mangaluru, which left more than 20 people dead. The statement also criticised the lathi-charges, tear gas shelling, internet shutdowns, imposition of Section 144 in various parts of the country owing to these protests.The Citizenship Amendment Act is intended to smooth the path to citizenship for Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who entered India before 2014. The statement mentions that the Act does not mention the term “persecuted religious minorities”, instead elaborating upon six religions that migrants will have to belong to in order to be eligible for citizenship. It also said that the Act violates Article 14 of the Indian Constitution and when combined with the National Register of Citizens, enables the government to “weed out” undocumented migrants and could render Muslims “stateless”.Indian-Americans and Indian students held peaceful protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act in the US cities of Chicago and Boston earlier this week. About 150 people marched to the Indian consulate from the Tribune Tower in Chicago. A diverse section of the Indian diaspora gathered on the steps of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a call to boycott the NRC and repeal the CAA.The protests on campuses against the Citizenship Act reached top educational institutions in the world including Oxford, Harvard and Yale and MIT too, with 400 students from these varsities issuing a joint statement condemning the Act and the police action during protests.Here is the full text of the statement:Statement from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Students, Faculty, Staff, Alumni, and AffiliatesWe, the undersigned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and affiliates, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) stand in solidarity with the peaceful and historic student protests across nearly 100 campuses in India against the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA). We strongly condemn the increasingly violent suppression of these citizens’ protests at the Aligarh Muslim University, the Jamia Millia Islamia University, Jama Masjid, Delhi, Mangaluru, and across several cities in Uttar Pradesh that have left several dead. We praise the courage, dignity, humor, resolve, and dynamism with which the students and ordinary citizens continue their protest in the face of lathi (baton) charges, tear gas, police detentions, the suspension of the internet, the closing down of public transportation, and the imposition of section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedures, a colonial-era law used by the state to prevent public gathering of more than four people.The Citizenship Amendment Act accelerates the path to citizenship for Hindu, Jain, Buddhist, Sikh, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh who entered India before 2014. Ostensibly introduced to protect these religious communities from “persecution”, the Act does not in fact mention “persecuted religious minorities”, identifying, instead, migrants belonging to the six religions, conspicuously excluding Muslims from its purview. By introducing religion as a marker for communities which will receive such state protection, the Act directly violates Article 14 of the Indian constitution that explicitly guarantees equality to all persons, both citizens and foreigners, within the territory of India. Second, the Act, in effect, redefines Indian citizenship on the basis of religion, breaking, completely, with the secular and inclusive foundation of the nation since it gained independence in 1947. The exclusion of Muslims from this new definition of Indian citizenship is reinforced by the identification of only Muslim-majority countries in South Asia, despite the presence of other persecuted communities within them, and many such refugees from other nations, such as Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The Act also includes an arbitrary cut-off date, 2014, for those who can apply for this fast-tracked citizenship. These places of origin and dates are suggestive of a continuous, 80-year-long history of persecution that stopped six years ago, neither of which claim has been substantiated or, indeed, is historically accurate.The scope and scale of the CAA must be understood in conjunction with the National Register of Citizenship (NRC), an administrative undertaking to create a registry of all existing Indian citizens to enable the government to “weed out”, in its own words, “infiltrators” and “termites”, that is to say undocumented migrants. This show of citizenship would require a series of unspecified documents relating to birth, parentage, and grandparents. If implemented, the NRC could make stateless those who are unable to produce these papers. While Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh would be protected by being granted citizenship under the CAA, an overwhelming number of Muslims, who have lived within the territory of India for generations as well as more recent migrants, could be rendered stateless.The preamble of the constitution declares India to be a secular, democratic republic. It is the enormity of the CAA and NRC combined that would irrevocably redefine Indian citizenship and nationhood by turning away from the plurality and diversity - the guiding principles of the constitution and the state that have been celebrated and kept in balance for nearly 70 years - that has mobilized students to call for the withdrawal of the CAA and the NRC. The sheer diversity of students and citizens who have taken to the streets from liberal arts, engineering, law, public, and private colleges across India, from Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Mangaluru, Kochi, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Kanpur, Aligarh, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Pune, Shillong, Itanagar, and Silchar, to name a few, is a testament to the democratic and secular foundation of the country that constitutes the fabric of India and which is under imminent threat. We, the students, faculty, staff, alumni, and affiliates at MIT, many of whom are associated with India professionally and personally, stand in solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of students and citizens protesting in India and join their demand for the withdrawal of the CAA and NRC.Signed by:1) Sana Aiyar, Associate Professor of History, MIT2) Paul Staniland, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Chicago, MIT PhD, Political Science, 20103) Mihir Trivedi, Undergraduate, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, MIT4) Nureen Das, Program Manager MIT India/South Asia (Massachusetts Institute of Technology Science & Technology Initiatives).5) Abha Sur, Lecturer, Science, Technology, and Society and Women and Gender Studies, MIT6) Balakrishnan Rajagopal, Associate Professor of Law and Development, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Head of the International Development Group, MIT7) Timothy Loh, PhD student, HASTS (History, Anthropology, STS), MIT8) Kenda Mutongi, Professor of History, MIT9) Marc Aidinoff, PhD Candidate, Program in History, Anthropology, and STS, MIT10) Ada de Gooyer, Undergraduate student, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands11) Lerna Ekmekcioglu, Associate Prof. of History, MIT12) Revanth Damerla, PhD Pre-Candidate, Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, BS 2018 MIT13) Neosha Narayanan, Undergraduate Student, Department of Materials Science and Engineering14) Satya Mohapatra, staff scientist, LIGO Laboratory, MIT15) Elise Harrington, PhD Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT16) Antonio Moya-Latorre, MIT Community Innovators Lab, Department of Urban Studies and Planning17) Michelle English, Director of Communications, MIT Center for International Studies18) Joseph Borkowski, Systems Administrator, MIT Global Languages19) Nelly Rosario, MIT ‘94; Associate Professor, Latina/o Studies Program, Williams College20) Alia Husain Rizvi, Undergraduate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT21) Shariann Lewitt, Lecturer, Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT22) Chenab Navalkha, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT23) Chelsea Hodgkins, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT24) Laurie Scheffler, staff, Center for International Studies25) Meghan Perdue, Digital Learning Fellow, School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Science.26) Madeline Smith, Program Manager, MIT-Denmark, MISTI27) Dwaipayan Banerjee, Assistant Professor STS, MIT28) Mriganka Mandal, Undergraduate, Departments of Chemistry and Biology, MIT29) Harith Morgan, Undergraduate, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT30) Fatima Gunter-Rahman, Undergraduate, Departments of EECS and Biology, MIT31) Faizan Jawed Siddiqi, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT32) Moin Nadeem, MEng Student, Department of EECS33) Brían O’Conaill, Administrative Officer, Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics34) Samar Abu Hegly, Undergraduate, Departments of EECS, MIT35) Al Baraa Abd Aldaim, Undergraduate, Department of Mathematics, MIT36) Ben Walker, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT37) Eric Robsky Huntley, Lecturer in Urban Science and Planning, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT38) Alan Brody, Emeritus Professor of Theater Arts, MIT39) Jeba Sania, Undergraduate, Department of EECS, MIT40) Atissa Banuazizi, Lecturer, Program in Comparative Media Studies/Writing, MIT41) Alona Bach, PhD student, Program in History, Anthropology, and STS (HASTS), MIT42) Sharon Velasquez, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT43) Ava Hoffman, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT44) Zack Avre, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT45) Deborah Fitzgerald, Professor, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, MIT46) Rionna Flynn, Undergraduate, Department of Physics, MIT47) Elizabeth Wood, Professor of History, MIT48. Kavita Mudan Finn, Lecturer, Department of Literature, MIT49) Smrithi Raman, Undergraduate, Departments of Biological Engineering and Political Science, MIT50) Dan Powers, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT51) Karilyn Crockett, Lecturer, Department of Urban Studies & Planning, MIT52) Steven E. Ostrow, Lecturer (retired) & Research Affiliate in History, MIT53) Arvind, Head of Computer Science Faculty, Schwarzman College of Computing, MIT54) Merrick Cai, Undergraduate, Department of Mathematics, MIT55) Bahij Chancey, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT56) Hector Beltran, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, MIT57) Isabelle de Courtivron, Emerita, prof of the Humanities58) Neha Doshi, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT59) Sarah Dohadwala, Undergraduate, Department of Biological Engineering, MIT60) Xio Alvarez, MCP/MArch Candidate, Department of Urban Studies & Planning / Department of Architecture, MIT61) Jacob Miske, Undergraduate, Department of Nuclear Science & Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT62) Tanalís Padilla, Associate Professor of History, MIT63) Anoushka Bose, Undergraduate, Department of Physics, Department of Political Science, MIT64) Sualeh Asif, Undergraduate, Department ofMathematics, Department of EECS, MIT65) Cathy Choi, Undergraduate, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, MIT66) Caley Horan, Assistant Professor of History, MIT67) Aditya Barve, Research Scientist, Department of Architecture, MIT68) Rohit Naimpally, Senior Research & Policy Manager, J-PAL North America, MIT69) Abhishek Banerjee, previously Postdoc at Picower Institute, now Associate Professor UK70) Priyanka deSouza, PhD student at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT71) Erica Caple James, Associate Professor of Medical Anthropology and Urban Studies, and Director, Global Health and Medical Humanities Initiative, MIT72) Maia Campbell, Undergraduate, Department of EECS, MIT73) Louis Bucciarelli, Professor Emeritus, Engineering & Technology Studies, MIT74) Marwa Abdulhai, Undergraduate, Department of EECS, MIT75) Jennah Haque, Undergraduate, Department of EECS and Department of Economics, MIT76) Anish Paul Antony, Postdoctoral Associate, D-Lab, MIT77) Matthew B., former lecturer, MIT Course 2178) Richard Sennett OBE FBA, Visiting Professor, The Senseable Cities Lab, MIT; Senior Advisor, Project on Climate Change and Cities, a collaboration between the United Nations and MIT Chair, Theatrum Mundi79) Tanaya Srini, MCP Candidate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT80) Annmarie W. 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MIT PhD Political Science 1990.104) Valerie Chen, Undergraduate, Department ofPolitical Science, MIT105) Francesca Macchiavello, Undergraduate, Department of EECS and Department of Economics, MIT106) Wilbur Li, Undergrad, Dept of EECS, MIT Class of 2020107) Shail Joshi, Graduate, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT108) Vinod Ratre, Undergraduate Student, Department of Biomedical Engineering.109) Hiromu Nagahara, Associate Professor of History, MIT110) Franklin Zhang, Undergraduate, Department of EECS, MIT111) Priyanka Shah, SMArchS+MCP, School of Architecture and Planning, MIT, 2008112) Poulomi Chakrabarti, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Queen’s University. 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Department of Political Science, MIT129) Ranu Boppana, SB ‘87, MD, President, MIT South Asian Alumni Association130) Megha Hegde, Research Associate, D-Lab, MIT131) Karthik Srinivasan, Research Scientist, Mcgovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT132) Boyd Ruamcharoen, PhD Student, Program in History, Anthropology, and STS (HASTS), MIT133) Julie Vaughn, Undergraduate, Department of EECS, MIT134) Sharan Raja, Graduate Student, Centre for Computational Engineering, MIT135) Theodore Moallem, PhD, HST '11, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, Graduate Program in Speech & Hearing Bioscience and Technology; Postdoctoral fellow, 2015-17, MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) & MIT Office of Digital Learning (ODL)The full text has been reproduced and has not been edited by Firstpost for style and clarity