India To Grant Citizenship To Refugees On Basis Of Religion

India is set to give citizenship rights to religious minorities persecuted in neighboring countries.

India’s cabinet approved a bill on Wednesday to grant religious-based nationality to refugees persecuted in neighboring countries, the first of its kind in the nation’s history.

The countries surrounding India are Bangladesh, Nepal, China, Pakistan, Myanmar, Bhutan, Sri lanka, and Afghanistan.

India’s federal home (interior) minister, Amit Shah, had told parliament in November, that the proposed law would ensure non-Muslim minorities – Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, Sikhs and Parsis – who fled from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, are given Indian citizenship.

The Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) was first proposed in 2016 by the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but was dropped when protests erupted in India’s north-eastern region.

Indian citizenship to “Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs escaping persecution” was one of the plans and programmes that enabled Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to win the elections in May 2019.

Reuters reported that critics have called the proposed law anti-Muslim, and some opposition parties have also pushed back, arguing citizenship cannot be granted on the basis of religion.

According to the news agency, the passage of the bill, which could be introduced in parliament this week, will also be a test for the BJP, since it enjoys a majority in the lower house but is short of numbers in India’s upper house. Any bill needs to be ratified by both houses of India’s parliament to become law.