India moved on Monday to implement a 2019 citizenship law that has been criticized as discriminating against Muslims, weeks before Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a rare third term for his Hindu nationalist government.
The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) grants Indian nationality to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India due to religious persecution from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014.
Modi’s government did not implement the law following its December 2019 enactment as protests and sectarian violence broke out in New Delhi and elsewhere. Scores were killed and hundreds injured during days of clashes.
Rights groups and Muslim groups say the law, combined with a proposed national register of citizens, could discriminate against India’s 200 million Muslims – the world’s third-largest Muslim population. Some fear the government might remove the citizenship of Muslims without documents in some border states.
“The Modi government announces implementation of Citizenship Amendment Act,” a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office said in a text message.
“It was an integral part of BJP’s 2019 manifesto. This will pave (the) way for the persecuted to find citizenship in India,” he said, referring to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 2019 election manifesto.
A Home (interior) Ministry statement said the law would remove legal barriers to citizenship for refugees, giving a “dignified life” to those who have suffered for decades.
“Many misconceptions have been spread” about the law and its implementation was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the statement said.
“This act is only for those who have suffered persecution for years and have no other shelter in the world except India,” it said.
The government denies it is anti-Muslim and says the law is needed to help minorities facing persecution in Muslim-majority nations.
It says the law is meant to grant citizenship, not take it away from anyone, and has called the earlier protests politically motivated.
