India's new citizenship law for religious minorities leaves Muslims out
CBC
India is providing a fast-track to citizenship for religious minorities seeking refuge in the country — except, that is, for Muslims.
The controversial 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) came into effect on Monday, marking the first time the secular state has set a religious criteria for citizenship.
Political activist Yogendra Yadav says it flies in the face of the country's constitution, which protects people from discrimination on the grounds of religion, thereby turning Muslims in India into "second-rate citizens."
"The whole point of the law is to exclude Muslims," Yadav, founder of the Swaraj India political party, told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
"The essence of this law is to say, 'No Muslims, please."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government has defended the law as a humanitarian gesture, saying it is meant only to extend citizenship to religious minorities fleeing persecution, and would not be used against Indian citizens.
The CAA amends a previous law that barred anyone who entered the country illegally from seeking citizenship.
It creates a path to citizenship for Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to Hindu-majority India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before Dec. 31, 2014. Those eligible have been invited to apply online.
But it does not encompass Muslims, who are a majority in all three nations.
The Indian government denies the law is discriminatory and says it was needed to help minorities facing persecution in neighbouring Muslim-majority nations.
"This act is only for those who have suffered persecution for years and have no other shelter in the world except India," India's home office said in a statement.
But Yadav notes the law ignores Muslim minority sects in Muslim-majority countries, like the Ahmadiyya in Pakistan.
It also excludes neighbouring countries where Muslims are the minority, he said, citing the Buddhist-majority Myanmar, where the Rohingya, an Islamic ethnic group, have faced a targeted campaign of violence and persecution that, according to Canada, amounts to genocide.
"The minority Muslims in Myanmar have suffered one of the worst kinds of oppression. They desperately want to come to India. They are being prevented," he said.
