On Monday, the Indian authorities introduced the implementation of the Citizenship Modification Act (CAA), a legislation that was handed by parliament in 2019, however has not been enforced thus far.

The choice on the CAA – whose passage in parliament sparked protests throughout the nation 5 years in the past over allegations of anti-Muslim bias – comes weeks earlier than Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a 3rd time period within the nationwide elections.

So what’s the legislation, and why is it so controversial?

What’s the Citizenship Modification Act in India?

The Act, which was an modification to the Citizenship Act 1955, was first launched in parliament in July 2016 and handed in December 2019.

Earlier than the CAA, any foreigner looking for Indian citizenship by way of naturalization wanted to spend 11 years in India to be eligible.

The CAA expedites Indian citizenship purposes of Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who fled to India from spiritual persecution in Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan earlier than December 31, 2014. They grow to be eligible for citizenship in 5 years. Candidates of those faiths are eligible even when they’re at the moment in India with out legitimate visas or different required documentation.

House Minister Amit Shah, an in depth confidant of Modi, introduced on X that the legislation would enable minorities persecuted for spiritual causes in neighboring nations to amass Indian citizenship.

However what about Muslim asylum seekers?

Earlier than the CAA, Indian citizenship legislation didn’t make faith a determinant of an individual's eligibility for an Indian passport. All these looking for naturalization needed to show that they had been in India legally, and wanted to attend for a similar interval – 11 years – to be eligible for citizenship.

That is what the CAA modifications – introducing for the primary time in India's impartial historical past – a non secular check for citizenship.

Muslim victims of spiritual persecution in Pakistan (such because the Ahmadiyya), Afghanistan (Hazara) or different neighboring nations (such because the Rohingya in Myanmar), nonetheless want to attend 11 years earlier than changing 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 states: “The State shall not deny to anybody equality earlier than the legislation or equal safety of the legal guidelines within the territory of India “.

In 2019, Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed a press release describing the legislation as discriminatory towards Muslims.

However different communities – together with many who’ve lengthy sought refuge in India – have additionally been denied the advantages of the legislation.

Amnesty India, the human rights watchdog, mentioned in a publish on Monday that the legislation goes towards the constitutional values ​​of equality and “legitimates discrimination primarily based on faith”. Amnesty India added that the act additionally denies advantages to Tamils ​​from Sri Lanka, and immigrants from nations similar to Nepal and Bhutan.

In 2019, after the legislation was accepted, giant protests broke out throughout India. Violent clashes broke out in New Delhi. Greater than 100 individuals had been killed throughout the nation, largely Muslims. A whole bunch of others had been injured.

How can beneficiaries get citizenship quicker?

The Indian authorities has introduced that these eligible underneath the CAA can apply for Indian citizenship utilizing a web-based portal, launched on Tuesday by Shah's residence ministry.

A committee led by the Director of Census Operations will analyze the purposes, mentioned a authorities notification on Monday. The panel may have seven different members.

What's subsequent?

There are greater than 200 petitions towards the legislation nonetheless pending earlier than the Indian courts even because the CAA got here into impact.

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Get together authorities has denied that the legislation is discriminatory towards Muslims, arguing that it solely seeks to guard these fleeing spiritual persecution. An announcement launched by the Inside Ministry mentioned “many misconceptions have been unfold” concerning the legislation and its implementation has been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the identical time, critics concern that the Hindu-majority 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 paperwork.

Mixed, the CAA and NRC may enable the federal government to deport all these deemed “unlawful” migrants – after which enable Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians to re-enter, whereas denying the identical alternative to Muslims.

BJP leaders have already made discriminatory remarks towards Muslim refugees. House Minister Shah has, up to now, referred to as Bangladeshi immigrants “termites”, “infiltrators” and a risk to nationwide safety.

What’s the NRC and the way is it associated to the CAA?

The NRC is a registry that’s meant to determine and deport “unlawful” immigrants.

To this point it has solely been carried out within the northeastern Indian state of Assam, the place almost two million individuals, together with Hindus and Muslims, had been left off the citizenship record in August 2019. The BJP declared its intention to implement the NRC all through the nation.

What has been the response thus far?

Protests have damaged out in elements of India because of the implementation of CAA.

College students at Jamia Millia Islamia, a college in New Delhi, instructed Al Jazeera that protests broke out on the institute and the police arrived. Safety forces carried out flag marches in areas close to Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, which grew to become a middle of protests towards the CAA in 2019 and 2020.

Critics additionally identified how the legislation was intentionally carried out simply because the elections had been about to happen. Yogendra Yadav, a politician and activist who was intently related to the anti-CAA protests, instructed Al Jazeera that this transfer to polarize voters by the BJP forward of the election is no surprise.

Jairam Ramesh, spokesperson of the opposition Congress celebration revealed in X: “After looking for 9 extensions for the notification of the principles, the timing simply earlier than the elections is clearly designed to polarize the elections, in significantly in West Bengal and Assam”.

The opposition Communist Get together of India (Marxist), which guidelines the southern state of Kerala, referred to as for statewide demonstrations towards the CAA on Tuesday.

Activists from a number of organizations in Assam, together with the All Assam College students Union (AASU), burnt copies of the legislation, demanding a statewide shutdown on Tuesday. Varied scholar teams organized related protests in different regional states, together with Meghalaya and Tripura. Many of those teams oppose the CAA not due to its alleged discriminatory nature, however as a result of they oppose the legalization of citizenship standing for overseas nationals.



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