India citizenship law seen as attack on secularism
The recently implemented CAA law grants Indian citizenship to certain non-Muslims. Critics decry it as yet another step towards fascism in the world's largest democracy.
AFP
A member and activist of left-wing organisations holds a placard during a protest against the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Delhi's Inderlok incident, in Bengaluru on March 13, 2024.
India citizenship law seen as attack on secularism
The recent implementation of India's controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will likely stir domestic and foreign tensions and strife.
The CAA was passed in 2019 as an amendment to the 1955 Citizenship Act to offer a quicker citizenship route to immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan with one caveat: They cannot be Muslim.
Not only are its rules controversial, the announcement's timing close to the parliamentary elections raises questions about the intentions of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The Modi government notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024 today. These rules will now enable minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to acquire citizenship in our nation," Home Minister Amit Shah said on the X social media platform on 11 March.
The Modi government today notified the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024.
These rules will now enable minorities persecuted on religious grounds in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to acquire citizenship in our nation.
With this notification PM Shri @narendramodi Ji has...
— Amit Shah (Modi Ka Parivar) (@AmitShah) March 11, 2024
Modi has "delivered on another commitment and realised the promise of the makers of our constitution to the Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians living in those countries," he said.
The BJP probably hopes to reap electoral benefits from this measure by giving its members and campaigners an extra canvassing point.
This implementation follows the inauguration of a Hindu temple on the site of a historic mosque, inflaming religious tensions and boosting his popularity with Hindu nationalists ahead of April polls.
On 22 January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a temple dedicated to Ram — one of the most popular deities in the Hindu pantheon — on the site where the 16th-century Babri Masjid stood until 31 years ago.
Critics of the controversial CAA law argue that granting Indian citizenship based on religion goes against the basic secular principles of the constitution.
To BJP enthusiasts, the CAA boosts India's Hindu nationalist credentials. It offers naturalisation to those who fled to India from the three countries before 31 December 2014. However, the pointed accusation of "religious persecution" may have wider implications.
Neighbourhood reaction
India may not care much about Pakistan's reaction due to their perennially acrimonious relations, although the BJP may gain popularity from any harsh response from Islamabad.
However, it will especially benefit from a Bangladeshi reaction. Dhaka has kept a wary eye on the religious polarisation unfolding in India. Bangladesh has an approximately 8% Hindu population.
"We don't understand why (the Indian government) did it. It (CAA) was unnecessary," Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said in a newspaper interview in 2020.
As of yet, there has been no evidence that minorities in Pakistan are rushing to India to apply for citizenship.
Another problem with the CAA is that, with India's already pervasive problems of unemployment and shortages in housing, transportation, healthcare and education, the country is ill-equipped to handle an influx of immigrants.
Members of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) take part in a torch rally as they protest against the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Guwahati on March 12, 2024.
On its part, Afghanistan's non-Muslim population is negligible. In fact, if all Hindus and Sikhs of Afghanistan decide to migrate to India, they can fit in a hotel. About 300 of those who left Afghanistan for India after the Taliban took over Kabul in August 2021 have since emigrated to North America.
"We never wanted to leave Delhi, but there was no employment, no means to survive," one person named Gurnam Singh told the Indian Express newspaper in December last year.
Afghanistan is gaining prominence as a regional energy transport hub, with major countries cultivating good relations with it. India also maintains contacts with Kabul and desires greater engagement with the nation. When the CAA was approved, Kabul had a pro-India regime.
Meanwhile, critics of the law question the humanitarian premise of the CAA. They say if it was really about humanitarian concerns, then the priority should go to Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar who have been massacred and persecuted by their government.
The answer is very telling: BJP supporters would vehemently oppose accepting Muslim refugees into India.
Domestic reaction
On the domestic front, the law's passage in parliament sparked nationwide protests and violence in 2019 and 2020. Many leading activists arrested by police in the wake of protests are still languishing in jails.
The CAA is also criticised on the grounds that granting Indian citizenship based on religion goes against the basic secular principles of the constitution.
A member and activist of left-wing organisations holds a placard during a protest against the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and Delhi's Inderlok incident in Bengaluru on March 13, 2024.
Article 14 of the Constitution commands the state not to deny any person "equality before law" or the "equal protection of the laws," and Article 15 protects citizens from every discrimination by the state.
There have been some feeble protests this month in Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam, but nowhere of the kind that erupted four years ago.
Opposition politicians have accused the BJP of playing politics over citizenship. Some states governed by non-BJP parties have made it clear they would not implement the CAA.
Kerala state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan says the law is aimed at "dividing people and inciting communal sentiments." On their part, Congress leaders have said the law will be repealed if their party comes to power.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has warned of the prospect of "a huge influx" of immigrants. "Who will give them employment? Where are they going to be settled? Will the BJP people accommodate them in their homes?" he asks.
He warned that around 15-20 million people from neighbouring countries could be settled in different parts of India to create future "voter banks" for the BJP. On her part, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said the CAA rules are murky and their legal merit is questionable.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party president Asaduddin Owaisi sees the law as anti-Muslim because it gives citizenship to all except "those whose religion is Islam."
However, Shah has sought to reassure the community that Muslims won't lose citizenship under this law. "The CAA is a law that grants citizenship and does not take away anyone's citizenship," he said.
