India Implements Anti-Muslim Citizenship Law

New Delhi, MINA – The Indian government announced regulations Monday to implement a 2019 citizenship law that critics call anti-Muslim, weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a third term for the Hindu Nationalist Government.

The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants Indian citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Muslim-majority Pakistan before December 31, 2014.

“It is an integral part of the BJP’s 2019 manifesto. It will pave the way for the persecuted to get citizenship in India.” said a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office via text message as quoted by Middle East Monitor onTuesday.

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Previously, the Modi government had not drawn up rules implementing the law, after protests and sectarian violence occurred in New Delhi and other places in the weeks after the law was promulgated in December 2019. Dozens of people were killed and hundreds injured in several days of clashes.

An Indian Home Ministry spokesperson said the regulations will allow those eligible under CAA-2019 to apply for Indian citizenship online through the provided web portal.

Meanwhile, Muslim groups say the law coupled with a proposed nationwide registration of citizens could discriminate against India’s 200 million Muslims, the world’s third-largest Muslim population. They are worried that the government will remove the citizenship of undocumented Muslims in several border countries.

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However, the Indian government denies that the law is necessary to help minority groups facing persecution in Muslim-majority countries. The report explains that the law is intended to grant citizenship, not take it away.

The main opposition Congress party said the announcement was motivated by looming elections.

“After seeking nine extensions in time for notification of regulations, the timing just before the elections is clearly designed to polarize voters, especially in West Bengal and Assam,” Congress Party spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said in X.

The eastern states of West Bengal and Assam are home to Muslim populations and are witnessing protests against the CAA as some Muslims fear that the law could be used to declare them illegal immigrants from neighboring Bangladesh and strip them of their Indian citizenship. (T/RE1/P2)

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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)