The Indian authorities on Monday introduced the implementation of the Citizenship Modification Act (CAA), a regulation that was handed by parliament in 2019 however was not enforced till now.
This determination on the CAA – whose passage in parliament had set off protests throughout the nation 5 years in the past over allegations of an anti-Muslim bias – comes weeks earlier than Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a 3rd time period in workplace by way of nationwide elections.
So what’s the regulation about, and why is it so controversial?
What’s the Citizenship Modification Act in India?
The Act, which was an modification to the 1955 Citizenship Act, was first launched within the parliament in July 2016 and handed in December 2019.
Earlier than the CAA, any international nationwide looking for Indian citizenship by way of naturalisation wanted to have spent 11 years in India to change into eligible.
The CAA expedites Indian citizenship functions of Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who escaped to India from non secular persecution in Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan earlier than December 31, 2014. They change into eligible for citizenship in 5 years. Candidates from these faiths are eligible even when they’re presently dwelling in India with out legitimate visas or different required paperwork.
House Minister Amit Shah, a detailed confidant of Modi, posted on X that the regulation will allow minorities persecuted on non secular grounds in neighbouring nations to accumulate Indian citizenship.
The Modi authorities at this time notified the Citizenship (Modification) Guidelines, 2024.
These guidelines will now allow minorities persecuted on non secular grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to accumulate citizenship in our nation.
With this notification PM Shri @narendramodi Ji has…
— Amit Shah (Modi Ka Parivar) (@AmitShah) March 11, 2024
However what about Muslim asylum seekers?
Earlier than the CAA, India’s citizenship regulation didn’t make faith a determinant of an individual’s eligibility for an Indian passport. All these looking for naturalisation needed to present that they had been in India legally, and wanted to attend for a similar interval – 11 years – to change into eligible for citizenship.
That’s what the CAA modifications – introducing for the primary time in impartial India’s historical past – a non secular check for citizenship.
Muslim victims of spiritual persecution in Pakistan (just like the Ahmadiyya), Afghanistan (the Hazara) or different neighbouring nations (such because the Rohingya in Myanmar), will nonetheless want to attend for 11 years earlier than they change into eligible for Indian citizenship. And in contrast to Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians, they want legitimate documentation to justify their presence in India.
This, many authorized consultants have argued, violates Article 14 of the Indian Structure, which says: “The State shall not deny to any particular person equality earlier than the regulation or the equal safety of the legal guidelines inside the territory of India.”
In 2019, Human Rights Watch (HRW) printed an announcement describing the regulation as discriminatory in opposition to Muslims.
However different communities – together with many who’ve lengthy sought refuge in India – have additionally been denied the advantages of the regulation.
Human rights watchdog Amnesty India mentioned in an X publish on Monday that the regulation goes in opposition to the constitutional values of equality and “legitimizes discrimination primarily based on faith”. Amnesty India added that the act additionally denies advantages to Tamils from Sri Lanka, and immigrants from nations like Nepal and Bhutan.
The Citizenship Modification Act (CAA) is a discriminatory regulation that goes in opposition to the constitutional values of equality and worldwide human rights regulation. The notification of the principles issued by the Ministry of House Affairs will make this divisive regulation operational from at this time. #CAA
— Amnesty India (@AIIndia) March 11, 2024
In 2019, after the regulation was handed, giant protests broke out throughout India. Violent clashes erupted in New Delhi. Greater than 100 individuals had been killed throughout the nation, principally Muslims. Lots of of others had been injured.
How can beneficiaries get quicker citizenship?
The Indian authorities introduced that these eligible underneath the CAA can apply for Indian citizenship utilizing an internet portal, launched by Shah’s house ministry on Tuesday.
A committee headed by the Director of Census Operations will evaluation functions, a authorities notification on Monday mentioned. The panel can have seven different members.
What’s subsequent?
There are greater than 200 petitions in opposition to the regulation nonetheless pending earlier than Indian courts even because the CAA has come into impact.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Occasion authorities has denied that the regulation is discriminatory in the direction of Muslims, arguing that it solely seeks to guard these escaping non secular persecution. An announcement launched by the House Ministry mentioned “many misconceptions have been unfold” in regards to the regulation and its implementation was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the identical time, critics concern that the Hindu majoritarian BJP may even search to implement one other initiative, the Nationwide Register of Residents (NRC), which goals to determine and deport immigrants in India with out legitimate papers.
Mixed, the CAA and NRC might permit the federal government to expel all of these deemed “unlawful” migrants – after which permit Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians to re-enter, whereas denying the identical alternative to Muslims.
BJP leaders have beforehand made remarks discriminating in opposition to Muslim refugees. House Minister Shah has, previously, known as Bangladeshi immigrants “termites”, “infiltrators” and a menace to nationwide safety.
What’s the NRC and the way is it linked to the CAA?
The NRC is a register that’s meant to determine and deport “unlawful” immigrants.
It has solely been carried out in India’s northeast state of Assam up to now, the place almost two million individuals, together with Hindus and Muslims, had been ignored of the citizenship record in August 2019. The BJP has declared its intent to implement the NRC nationwide.
What has the response been up to now?
Protests have erupted in components of India because of the CAA implementation.
College students of Jamia Millia Islamia, a college in New Delhi, instructed Al Jazeera that protests broke out within the institute and police arrived. Safety forces performed flag marches in areas close to Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, which grew to become a hub of protests over the CAA in 2019 and 2020.
Critics have additionally identified how the regulation has intentionally been carried out proper as elections are about to happen. Yogendra Yadav, a political scientist and activist who was carefully related to the anti-CAA protests, instructed Al Jazeera that this transfer of voter polarisation by the BJP earlier than elections is unsurprising.
Jairam Ramesh, spokesperson for the opposition Congress social gathering posted on X: “After looking for 9 extensions for the notification of the principles, the timing proper earlier than the elections is evidently designed to polarise the elections, particularly in West Bengal and Assam”.
The opposition Communist Occasion of India (Marxist), which governs the southern state of Kerala, known as for state-wide protests on Tuesday in opposition to the CAA.
Activists from a number of organisations in Assam, together with the All Assam College students’ Union (AASU), burned copies of the regulation, calling for a statewide shutdown on Tuesday. Completely different scholar teams are organising related protests in different regional states, together with Meghalaya and Tripura. Many of those teams are against the CAA not due to its allegedly discriminatory nature however as a result of they oppose the legalisation of citizenship standing for any international nationals.
