Let’s not refuse to give refuge

In the recent days, we’ve had a huge social media uproar about Trump’s anti-Muslim ban and rightly so, we should be angry. There should be as much outrage as possible over the efforts to normalise bigotry and racism. Active voices of opposition are an integral part of democracies. I’m glad the world is coming together to say “This is not okay”, or “You can’t do this.”

But in our obsession for America, we’ve really forgotten about the conditions back home. In your Twitter rants and Facebook solidarity statuses, I hope you don’t forget that we treat Muslim refugees in the same way. 

India, a land of diversity (similar to America, eh?), was seen as a ‘natural home or Motherland of Hindus’ after partition. Therefore, Hindu refugees from Pakistan/Nepal/Bangladesh and other  neighbouring countries were welcome, but this citizenship would not be extended to other minorities. 

The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, which has been introduced in the Lok Sabha, states that Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh would no longer be considered illegal. The state of Assam is quite vocal against it, mostly because it contradicts the Assam accord.

This is how the state, the government, the constitutional machinery of a ‘secular’ nation treats it’s refugees from the minority community. The fact that only Hindu refugees were allowed, and that we’ve started a discussion about it only since 2015 is problematic. It seems like ‘secular’ is just a frivolous tag we hang on to for almost anything these days.

Moving on, our public opinion, along with the political propaganda, isn’t kind either. If you have a problem with Syrians, Libyans, Somalians, Iranians, Sudanese, Iraqis, Yemeni not being allowed to enter America, where’s your outrage when we terrorise and send away Pakistani artists? Our denial of injustice, selective outrage and selective liberalism can be termed as bigotry. We’ve essentially turned our back to the Islamic world (except Saudi Arabia, because we still need oil, don’t we?). 

Why this should affect you? Why this should affect me? It’s because we’re creating a world built on hatred and not love. We’re living in a world that prioritises diplomatic political stands, and not actual human lives. We’re setting the wrong precedents as to how to feel, how to think, and soon we’ll lack in empathetic policy making. 

Today it’s Iraq, Syria, Sudan, tomorrow it’ll be India. This is not just a war against Muslims, it’s a war against diversity, against any oppressed voice. It’s the establishment of a system that places white Caucasian lives on top of the American hierarchy, which is essentially a country made up and formed by immigrants from around the world (after all, white people demolished the lives of the Native Americans). 

And it’s happening everywhere. It’s problematic when a country refuses entry to people from other countries, and it’s a problem when states refuse and terrorise people from their own country (cough, cough... Maharashtra). Aggressive regional protectionism is a propaganda that really doesn’t help the masses, who it really helps is the powerful leaders who can push their own agendas through this, feeding a false sense of entitlement to the masses.

Priyanka Paul is an 18-year-old illustrator and poet who uses her art to express her opinion on various issues.