Chroniclers may have to burn the proverbial midnight oil to work on their narrative about the goings on in the country, which amounts to history in present tense. While more regions across the world, including India, are joining the currently most populous country China in battling the life-threatening virus, most of the regions across India are witnessing disturbance to normal life, a fallout of the Act of December 11, 2019 concerning citizenship to migrants from three neighbouring countries on the basis of their faiths, a delicate matter overtly and covertly influencing people’s reaction to various policies and measures introduced by the Governments attributed by knowledgeable observers to distrust of the ruling class. The top brass in the Government issuing full-throated statements both through media channels and on various public platforms to clear the air from misinformation on a daily basis seems to be more than matched by violence involving well-marked sections in the population, reports about which have left the rest of the diaspora dumb-founded.
Citizenship and nationality of an individual are defined so as to be synonyms. Unsurprisingly, even the literati may be all at sea to prove their citizenship status. Aadhaar Card being issued to the land’s masses at great effort and thousands of crores of rupees outgo from the treasury is only a mark of identity and not of citizenship, the status of a person recognised under law.
