NEW DELHI – In another provocative move, the government of India has announced to implementation of the much-debated Citizenship Act which gives benefits to different religious communities except Muslims.
The decision comes weeks before the General Elections in the country and has triggered rights activists to fire a broadside at the premier Narendra Modi.
The government has announced the enforcement of rules for the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The controversial law, passed in 2019 by Modi’s government, permits Indian citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from neighboring countries.
The law extends eligibility to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, and Christians who fled to India from predominantly Muslim Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan before December 31, 2014 – a criteria which is discriminatory towards Muslims.
Drafting rules for the law was delayed after widespread protests erupted following its passage in December 2019 which also left many killed and injured.
“It was an integral part of BJP’s 2019 manifesto. This will pave the way for the persecuted to find citizenship in India,” a government spokesman revealed.
According to a spokesperson from the Home Ministry, the regulations will facilitate eligible individuals under the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 to seek Indian citizenship. They added that applications could be made online through a designated web portal.
As the rules come into force, Muslim groups express concerns that the law, coupled with a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), could marginalize India’s 200 million Muslims, the world’s third-largest Muslim population, fearing that the government might strip citizenship from Muslims lacking documentation in border states.
The government contends that the law is designed to grant citizenship rather than revoke it from anyone and dismisses previous protests as politically motivated.
The critics of the government not only included rights groups and Muslims but Congress also, one of its leaders, Shashi Tharoor, said introducing religion as a criterion for citizenship goes against the principles of the Constitution.
‘Throughout India’s history, citizenship has never been linked to religion. Specifying certain religions as eligible for fast-track citizenship while excluding one major religion is purely a communal exercise that will damage and divide the country,” he said.
