Oppose NRC the Buddhist way

On November 20 the day Home Minister Amit Shah announced a countrywide National Register of Citizens the Dalai Lama spoke on the subject of Overcoming Anger and Anxiety at St Columbas School Delhi He did not discuss citizenship or matters political but his discourse hooked me for its allusion to what ought to be the most suitable response of humans to an utterly oppressive condition which an allIndia exercise to implement the NRC will create for the poor particularly those who are MuslimThe enemy who creates trouble for you is the best teacher the Dalai Lama quoted Shantideva an eighth century Buddhist monk to analyse The Eight Verses on Training the Mind which was written by Geshe Langri Tangpa 10541123 CE The Dalai Lama read the fifth of the eight verses When others out of jealousyTreat me wrongly with abuse slander and scornMay I take upon myself the defeatAnd offer to others the victoryIn his exposition the Dalai Lama reminisced about the suppression of Tibetan protests in 2008 by the Chinese He said I visualised some of the Chinese officials who had made the decision I took upon their anger their fear to myself and gave them forgiveness tolerance and compassion To what avail The Dalai Lama answered It was of no help to the situation but it gave immense peace of mind to meThe fear of the oppressed goads the oppressor into adopting heartless policies Victory is voluntarily offered to the oppressor to dispel his unfounded fear reform him and therefore alter the social condition The oppressed breaks the circle of suffering as he or she does not resist oppression through violent methodsHowever the offer of defeat could turn the powerful into a habitual oppressor In his commentary on The Eight Verses Geshe Sonam Rinchen 19332013 writes If offering the victory and giving the other person satisfaction would lead to greater harm in the long runhellip it would be a mistake to give inOver the last six years Muslims have offered victory in the Buddhist sense of the term to the Sangh Parivar silently enduring injustices They did not protest against the Supreme Courts flawed Ayodhya judgment Even the decision to seek a review of the judgment might not have been taken had the Sangh announced a closure to all disputes over places of worship The patience of Muslims however has whetted the Sanghs appetite for victories evident from Shah making his NRC statement so soon after the judgmentThe NRC is an instrument of torment for Muslims This is palpable from the Assam governments decision to reject the final NRC list for the State dismayed as it was that the Bengali Hindus not Muslims dominated the list of 196 lakh people who were excluded from the NRC The rejection mocks the poor who endured tremendous hardship to procure documents to establish that they or their ancestors were residents of Assam before March 25 1971BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma argues that March 25 1971 should also be the cutoff date for the allIndia NRC for determining citizenship as illegal immigrants could have fanned out from Assam to other states His suggestion infracts the Constitution which provides citizenship to all those born in India until July 1 1987 and after that date to those whose one parent was an Indian citizen An amendment to the Citizenship Act 1955 however denies citizenship to anyone born after December 3 2004 if one of his or her parents was an illegal immigrantLogically the citizenship of those born before July 1 1987 is beyond the pale The allIndia NRC should therefore have two cutoff dates ndash for those born between 1987 and 2004 and then thereafter This means that 5060 crore Indians will have to prove their citizenship Among them the poor among Muslims often without documents who will reap the bitter harvest of becoming statelessThis is because the government plans to enact the Citizenship Amendment Bill which prohibits detention and deportation of nonMuslim illegal immigrants from Bangladesh Pakistan and Afghanistan Given the implausibility of detaining lakhs declared stateless or any country accepting them there is the grim possibility of their disenfranchisement as was prescribed for 10 years for illegal immigrants who came into Assam between January 1 1966 and March 25 1971The writer is a senior journalistSend your feedback to mailbagmiddaycomThe views expressed in this column are the individuals and dont represent those of the paperCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates