Religion-based citizenship bill gets India cabinet nod

AMENDMENTS MAY BE PLACED IN PARLIAMENT THIS WEEK

India’s cabinet approved a bill yesterday to give citizenship to religious minorities persecuted in neighbouring Muslim countries, the first time that the country is seeking to grant nationality on the basis of religion.

Last month, Amit Shah, India’s federal home (interior) minister, told parliament that non-Muslim minorities — Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis — who fled from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan would be given Indian citizenship under the proposed law.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was first introduced in 2016 by the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi but was withdrawn after an alliance partner withdrew support and protests flared in India’s remote and ethnically diverse northeastern region.

India’s Cabinet signed off yesterday on legislation that stands to give citizenship to certain religious minorities, but not Muslims, in what critics say is a fresh attempt to sideline the 200-million-strong Islamic community in the country.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), re-elected in a landslide in May, has long been accused of following a “Hindutva” agenda favouring officially secular India’s majority Hindus.

The amendments to the sixdecade-old Indian Citizenship Act, approved by Modi’s Cabinet yesterday, could go before the Lower House of parliament (Lok Sabha) as soon as this week. The bill would grant nationality to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and Parsis fleeing persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan even without any documentation.

According to the BJP, Muslims have not been included because they are able to take refuge in Islamic nations across the globe. Senior minister Prakash Javadekar told reporters yesterday that the legislation would follow the principles

of “natural justice” and is “not against anyone”.

The Federal government tried to get similar legislation passed in its first term, but failed to garner enough support in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha),

and it is unclear whether it would succeed there this time.

Apart from stoking unease among Muslims, the proposed changes have also provoked anger in the northeast that for decades has seen major influxes of people of different religions — including Hindus.

Federal Home Minister Amit Shah held talks with representatives from the region on Tuesday over their concerns. Shah has been vocal in pushing through the bill.