Let me start by reading you this paragraph.
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”
This official oath is the final legal step required for a person to be naturalized as a citizen of the United States of America. Today, our good friend Aatish Taseer took to Twitter to announce the happy news that he has taken the official oath and become a US citizen.
Now because Aatish has mentioned India in his tweet, I have some questions.
Did Aatish Taseer dare to hide any background info on his US citizenship application? My guess would be no.
Can you imagine Aatish Taseer hiding info on his US citizenship application? And saying later that he is big and famous enough that details about him are well known, so who cares about filling forms? No! I daresay Aatish has dotted every “i” and crossed every “t” in his application.
Because his sense of entitlement is limited to India. Only in India can his mother expect the Home Minister to personally attend to clerical issues about her son’s visa application. Only in India would he demand an exemption from the law as a personal favor.
But I have some more questions, especially with regard to the oath that Aatish has just taken. If you will notice, Aatish has just sworn publicly that he will
A. Bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law
B. Perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law
C. Perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law.
Not my words, Aatish. Orders of the US government. Repeated loyally by YOU.
So I guess my question is: how did you get so patriotic, Aatish?
It seems like only yesterday that liberals were making fun of the “Hindu nationalists” and their obsession with the military. Now suddenly we have Aatish Taseer humbly promising to serve in the US military as a precondition for becoming a citizen.
There’s more fun questions we can ask. How about that ending to the oath which says “So help me God“? Did you protest that this makes the oath “exclusionary”?
That reminds me. Didn’t you write recently that the word “Bharat” itself is “exclusionary”? You don’t seem to hold such extreme views about the US citizenship oath.
Wait. There’s more fun. In order to be naturalized as a US citizen, you have to assure the US government in writing that you are not a Communist and do not advocate Communism. Sounds almost like an ideological test. So if you have ever praised Kanhaiya Kumar or Sitaram Yechury, be sure to speak to a lawyer.
Relax, Aatish. I didn’t mean to scare you. America is a country with a big heart. They don’t generally cross check this stuff. But just so you know, they could, if they wanted to 🙂
It’s nice to see Aatish this way. Standing before the backdrop of the stars and stripes. In another photo, holding a smaller flag for good measure, with a banner in the background that shows Lady Liberty.
America mata ki jai, right?
Now if only you and your ilk could show the same respect to an Indian who sings Vande Mataram or says Bharat Mata ki jai. Don’t call us “exclusionary” for saying “Bharat.” When a persecuted Hindu or Sikh or Jain or Buddhist from Pakistan becomes part of India, they feel much the same sentiment as you do. Allow them to feel that sentiment without being labeled as Nazi by you and your elite friends. Just because they have less access to closed privilege clubs of global media does not mean their emotions are less human than yours.
Now I cannot say for sure, but it looks like your positions on patriotism, nationalism, militarism and secularism have evolved just a little.
I guess you gotta make some compromises Aatish to become a citizen of the land of the brave and the home of the free.
Did you see what I did there Aatish? Did you catch that? I’m sure you did. I scrambled the ending of your National Anthem. It’s actually “land of the free and the home of the brave.”
I’m sure you noticed because you probably sang the Anthem at the citizenship ceremony. Did you stand up to sing it and place your hand over your heart? Or did you show off your “liberty” by sitting down? I’m sure you didn’t. After all, they make you sing the anthem before you take the oath and become a citizen.
I hope you become a good American, my dear Aatish. Vande Mataram and God bless the USA.
dynastycrooks 
Completely off-topic, but …
Having lived for long years in both the USA and Canada, I know the words to the national anthems of both countries. So when one of the is played (e.g. at a sporting event), I sing along. I don’t say that I can sing *well*, mind you. But I do sing to the best of my ability. To me is just a matter of courtesy, though I am a proud citizen of India and only India.
I have not had many opportunities of observe how non-Indians conduct themselves when our national anthem is played. I suspect the vast majority of them wouldn’t know the words, so they would just stand respectfully.
So who would be the exceptions to that? They would be people like Taseer, who will happily grovel before the US government, but arrogantly tell the Indian government to look up the details about himself and fill up the forms, because he is too famous and/or India is too low to deserve his respect.
But the way in which Taseer and his clearly senile mother keep harping on the cancellation of his OCI status shows that the action has cut to the raw. They probably never thought that a nation of brown beggars (as they see India) would ever actually enforce ts rules.
Get used to it Taseer! Things will get even worse (from your viewpoint) a week from tomorrow.
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What a comeback! The hypocrisy of people like Taseer has been laid bare. Now, if only the Immigration & Naturalization Service or the Department of Homeland Security would just go back and check Taseer’s assurance that he is not a communist among other such verbiage that this man blithely uttered or signed…
Perhaps a review and revocation of the newly granted US citizenship would be a nice finale to his diatribe about India.
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Abhishek,
This is interesting: I quote a paragraph from your blog:
“In order to be naturalized as a US citizen, you have to assure the US government in writing that you are not a Communist and do not advocate Communism. Sounds almost like an ideological test. So if you have ever praised Kanhaiya Kumar or Sitaram Yechury, be sure to speak to a lawyer.”
So – how good a job does the INS do of citizenship applicants? Clearly, not good enough. We have the example of Taseer here. So also, one might add, of the ultra-leftist Siddharth Varadarajan, now an American citizen, but sitting in India and running an online media company whose sole job appears to be to run down the Indian state and contribute to fake news.
Both these characters were let in the door by the US. Did the INS do a good job? Should they review? Should they revoke the already granted citizenships as such individuals could hold a clear and present danger to the security and integrity of the United States in the future? Sure, sounds like the days of McCarthy. Maybe that’s why these characters don’t much pick on their new mother country but on others where the possibility of action is slim. Perhaps if the US could review Varadarajan’s citizenship file, India could revoke his OCI and ask him to pack up. Remember: the Left does not hesitate to act in ways that are vicious in pursuit of their aim. The right-of-center needs to learn these lessons.
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Taseer’s British citizenry is itself a result of the foolishness of the British giving citizenship to lots of Pakistanis from 1950’s onwards. The result of that is Pakistani grooming gangs and Jehadis who now pose a serious danger to the UK. If the USA goes down the same road, we can expect grooming gangs to pop up there in future.
One cannot help noticing that lots of Pakistanis are not queuing up for Chinese citizenship even though China is supposedly their best friend. China knows how to treat Jehadis and wont let its courts and liberals come in the way of their national interest.
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If a poll is held to rank the Non-Performing ministers in Modi Government the following will definitely rank as top three:
1. Prakash Javadekar
2. Ravi Shankar Prasad
3. Ramesh Pokhriyal
Unbelievably poor performance.
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Will, he ever dare to bend on one knee in the USA when the national anthem is played because the Black Lives Did Not Matter (and hence the agitation to point out that the Black lives Matter)? I wonder whether he will apply now for the Green Card for his Indian mother and Pakistani father?
On a different equally interesting topic: A day before Uddhav Thackeray’s 60th birthday, he gave an interview claiming he is the driver of a three-wheeled vehicle called Maharashtra government and the other two parties are sitting in the passenger seats. On his birthday, Ajit Pawar while making him a birthday wish, twitted a picture showing Ajit Pawar as the driver and Uddhav Thackrey as the passenger. Dekhiye Aage Aage Hota Hai Kya.
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Liked an article after many months
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