With the recent nationwide protests against the CAA and proposed NRC being highlighted by international media and the reactions that these reports have prompted from major nations (including the USA and the European Union), it is important to note that Poland, a major member of the European Union has long since held out against rampant migration, specially from war torn Muslim majority nations. India is being criticized for her bold stand in weeding out potential troublemakers in the guise of ‘immigrants’ (while ensuring that the real immigrants have a fair chance at reestablishing their lives). However all the large nations threatening India with ‘dire consequences’ have not taken any concrete steps to similarly ‘punish’ Poland, which makes one wonder, is it because India wants to preserve her Hindu identity, while Poland wants to preserve its Christian one ? – Editor, HinduJagruti.org
Poland’s government has long been proud of its strong stance against migration. While other European nations took in hundreds of thousands of people who’d fled war, Poland stood firm with its borders firmly closed.
In the episode of UpFront on ‘Aljazeera’ channel published on its website on 8th November 2019, Polish politician Dominik Tarczynski was asked about his government’s immigration policy and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Poland’s ultra-conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) won a second term in office last month. The PiS rose to power in 2015, following a campaign that focussed on social conservatism, along with a generous social spending programme.
Tarczynski says after living in the United Kingdom and the United States and experiencing life in a multicultural society, he does not see any value in it.
“For me, multicultural society, it’s not a value … it’s not a virtue,” the Polish MP said. “Christian culture, Roman law, Greek philosophers, these are the virtues for us.”
“We don’t want Poland being taken over by Muslims, Buddhists, or someone else … and no one will ever force us to take Muslims, Buddhists, non-believers in huge numbers,” said Tarczynski.
But the party’s refusal to take in refugees, along with its attempts to reform the judiciary – critics say at the expense of independence – has put it at loggerheads with the European Union.
Just this week, a top EU legal adviser said Warsaw broke the bloc’s law by refusing to take in refugees during Europe’s 2015 migrant crisis.
But the PiS’s Dominik Tarczynski insists his country did nothing wrong and says Poland stands by its immigration policy.
Source : Aljazeera
