The Latest: Top stories of the day
1. Patel reservation rally turns violent in Gujarat's Mehsana town as protesters clash with police.
2. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visits Iran, where India looks set to step up oil and gas investments.
3. Ram Navami violence in Jharkhand brings on curfew in Hazaribagh.
4. An earthquake in Ecuador has killed at least 246 people.
The Big Story: Centre and its citizens
The Central government plans to ease citizenship norms for migrants from religious minorities in Pakistan. Pakistani and Bangladeshi refugees living in India on long-term visas will be able to open banks accounts, get PAN cards, and even buy property. This is in keeping with last year's move to tweak the Passport (Entry into India) Act of 1920 and the Foreigners Order of 1948 to help such minorities to stay in India without valid travel documents. The Centre religiously ticks off all minorities when speaking of such measures: they will apply to Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs and Hindus. On the face of it, the move to provide a home for people fleeing persecution and violence is unimpeachable.
But the politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party has turned it into something else: a communalised distinction between Muslim "infiltrator" and Hindu "refugee". The roots of such legislation lie in the Lok Sabha campaign of 2014, when Narendra Modi asserted India was a "natural home" for Hindus and spoke of the need to expel illegal Muslim migrants from Assam. The BJP continued in the same vein during the assembly elections in Assam this year, communalising the issue of migration in a paranoid border state. The easing of citizenship rules has been accompanied by promises to firm up the border fencing, both on the eastern and the western frontiers. While security is a concern, the BJP's muscle-flexing on the border is increasingly associated with the refugee-versus-infiltrator rhetoric.
Evidently, the Centre does not recognise the phenomenon of economic migration, the fact that poverty can force desperate people to move in search of a better life. Neither does it recognise, in the case of West Bengal and Assam, the everyday ties that bind communities across a porous border. Even as it prepares to help minorities on long-term visas, the BJP supports the ejection of migrants who have lived and worked on Indian soil for decades. An evolved, inclusive idea of citizenship seems beyond its grasp.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's big story
Ipsita Chakravarty on how the fear of migrants has been a driving force in the politics of Assam for decades now.
Politicking and policying
1. Kerala wants the Centre to declare the Puttingal fireworks tragedy a national calamity.
2. After facing flak from the opposition, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa promises not to tour drought-hit areas in an SUV.
3. The government plans incentives to attract doctors to rural postings.
4. In Tamil Nadu, parties looking to swell audiences at poll rallies pay students Rs 1,200 to attend.
Punditry
1. In the Indian Express, Upendra Baxi on how India has failed to match Ambedkar's urgency for swift action against social apartheid.
2. In the Hindu, Pulapra Balakrishnan explains the lessons from the Vijay Mallya case: lack of transparency weakens our banking system, for one.
3. In the Telegraph, Mukul Kesavan on how mainstream Indian political opinion underplays the violence inflicted on citizens in Kashmir and the North East.
Don't Miss...
Roy Mathew shows how poll politics has ensured that Thrissur pooram gets its fireworks back, a week after the tragic accident at the Puttingal temple in Kollam:
Since the Kollam tragedy on April 10, public opinion was growing in favour of banning pyrotechnics in Kerala. “Fireworks are not part of temple festivals,” stated the tantri and chief priest of the Sabarimala temple. Swami Prakashananda, head of the Sivagiri Mutt in Varkala, also criticised fireworks in temples. Some temples dropped plans for displays, while some Christian churches also banned them.
“A ban on fireworks is necessary since restrictions would not be effective,” said Kerala’s Director General of Police TP Senkumar. The Kerala High Court issued an interim stay on high decibel fireworks on April 12.
However, not all temple administrators and managing committees were in favour of a ban because many believers supported firework displays. In addition, performers at festivals and contractors feared that their earnings would suffer.
